To divorce? This is what happens with your pension
My partner and I, both forty years old, are getting divorced after ten years of marriage. What are the consequences for my pension? We are both affiliated with the ABP as teachers.
Picture: Type tank
The consequences for your retirement pension are clear: each person is entitled to half of the pension accrued during the marriage. So you get five years of his pension, he gets five years of yours. For whom this works out most favorably depends on which of you has the highest salary or works the most hours.
It is a bit more complicated with the survivor's pension. You receive this if your partner dies, whether before or after retirement age. If you break up and your ex dies before you, you are still entitled to part of it. And the same applies the other way around. Does that happen after retirement? If you were still married, you would receive the full survivor's pension: 70 percent of the old-age pension. But after a divorce, only the years of marriage count. Suppose your ex has accrued pension for forty years, then you were married for a quarter of that period and you therefore also receive a quarter of that 70 percent.
More exes, less money
Yet again, the survivor's pension is calculated differently if one of you were to die before state pension age. Your history also plays a role in this. If your partner did not have another (official) partner before your marriage, you will receive the survivor's pension that has been built up until the moment you separate. Let's assume that he started working at the age of 25 and that you got married when you were thirty, then the portion accrued in the previous five years is also yours. This is different if a previous partner is involved. In that case, part of the survivor's pension goes to that ex and you get less. Suppose that relationship lasted until a year before your marriage, then you will receive the amount that has accrued since that previous divorce.
Dire situations
When it comes to survivor's pension, difficult situations are conceivable. Suppose you get married for the first time later in life, say at age 60, and the marriage is short-lived. If you die before state pension age, this ex is entitled to the survivor's pension that you have built up from the start of your career. If you do reach your pension, this situation is really disadvantageous. Because if you are single without an ex, part of the survivor's pension is converted into an extra old-age pension under the current scheme. You would miss that in this case.
You can also agree on a different pension distribution in the divorce agreement, although the question is whether the partner who then has to hand in the pension is willing to do so. This is also possible in prenuptial agreements, but in practice it rarely happens.
Favorable bill
Back to the old-age pension. There is now a bill to automatically split this after a divorce, which is called conversion. The portion to which you are entitled then goes directly into your own pot. That's easier than how it works now. At this point, you must approach your ex's pension fund yourself with the request to pay out your pension portion directly to you. If you don't do that, you will have to pull your ex's coattails every year. If the conversion continues, this is no longer necessary. Another advantage: after conversion, the payment of your pension part will start on your own retirement date instead of that of your partner. That's great, because if you are younger, for example, and you receive that pension portion while you are still working, you pay more tax.
This law should come into effect in 2028, but will it succeed? For the time being, pension funds will be happy with the introduction of the new pension system.
Fewer divorces, people marry later and people stay together longer
Fewer divorces
In 2022, 23.603 Dutch marriages ended in divorce. That's about 7 in 1000 marriages.
In 2014, more than 10 in 1000 marriages failed.
Declaration: Because younger generations are marrying less, the group of couples consists increasingly of couples who have been married for a long time. They divorce less often.
People get married later
About 16 percent of couples who married in 2010 separated within 10 years. In 1990 that was still more than 18 percent.
Declaration: On average, people marry later, while the risk of divorce is higher if people marry young: before the age of 25.
People stay together longer
Since 1980, the age at which people divorce has increased steadily:
Average age of divorcing men: 48 years (1980: 38 years)
Average age of divorcing women: 45 years (1980: 35 years)
A total of 30,6 percent of marriages are currently on the rocks.
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics
