Following a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership your ex spouse or civil partner may be entitled to part of your pension.
If you divorce, your ex spouse or ex civil partner will cease to be entitled to a widows, widowers or civil partners pension. However children's pensions will not be affected by divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership.
If you have previously nominated your spouse or civil partner to receive a death grant, this nomination will remain on your pension record until you change it. We suggest that after divorce you complete a new expression of wish for lump sum death benefits form.
What is a cash equivalent transfer value?
Your solicitor will need a cash equivalent transfer value (CETV). A CETV will provide specific information about your pension, the court will take this value into account in your settlement.
Requests for CETVs must be made in writing to the Cornwall Pension Fund, using the contact details on this page.
It is important that:
- you state the reason you need a CETV is for divorce purposes and,
- you should also specify the full address that you need the details to be sent to
You should allow up to 6 weeks for the CETV to sent.
Pension sharing
The court may issue a pension sharing order on your divorce.
If a pension sharing order is issued, the pension will be retained by the CPF until your ex spouse/civil partner reaches the age of 65 (or 60 if they elect to take the benefits early and suffer a reduction).
If a pension sharing order is issued, a proportion of your pension will be allocated to your ex spouse or civil partner. This means that your monthly pension will reduce.
How much your pension reduces by depends on the court order.