How Are Pensions Divided In Divorce?
If you are divorcing, your pension can be divided by a pension sharing order, a pension attachment order, or offsetting against other assets. In England and Wales, this applies to divorcing and dissolving couples under the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999. The Pension Advisory Group’s July 2019 guide to the treatment of pensions on divorce found pensions are often the second largest matrimonial asset after the family home yet remain the most frequently overlooked in negotiations. A pension can only be shared as part of a divorce or civil partnership dissolution, never through a private separation agreement alone.
Last reviewed: 17th August 2026
Article summary
✓ Your pension counts as a matrimonial asset under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, whichever of you it is held in.
✓ A pension sharing order gives you a completely separate pension of your own, and this route achieves a clean break on that asset straight away. Some Government pension schemes require former spouses to remain as a member of that scheme, but under your own name.
✓ A pension attachment order keeps you financially tied to your former spouse for years and stops automatically if you remarry. Consideration also has to be given as to what happens to the pension if your former spouse dies and whether the pension dies with them
✓ Offsetting lets you trade pension value for other capital, often the family home or savings, if you need housing certainty now rather than retirement income later. A pensions on divorce expert will calculate the amount required to trade off.
✓ The transfer value your pension scheme quotes can significantly understate what a defined benefit pension is really worth, so skipping expert valuation risks a settlement that shortchanges you.
You may assume your pension is safely tucked away and separate from divorce financial proceedings. However, it is not. I recently advised a wife divorcing after a 19-year marriage who discovered that her husband’s NHS pension, valued on paper at £180,000, was worth considerably more to him at retirement than that headline figure suggested. If my client had relied on legal advice from ChatGPT and not acquired a proper pension valuation, she may have inadvertently accepted a settlement that dramatically understated her fair share of the couple’s true wealth. What is often important is how much income the value of the pension produces, not the value itself.
Pensions often don’t get the scrutiny the family home receives, despite frequently exceeding it in value. You have three ways to deal with a pension in your divorce financial settlement, namely:
- A pension sharing order,
- A pension attachment order, or
- Offsetting the pension against other assets
Picking the wrong solution can cost you far more than a badly negotiated house sale, so it is crucial to get advice from a solicitor experienced in pensions and divorce.
This article forms part of our wider guide to divorce and financial settlements. Let’s look at each option for dividing pensions on divorce in detail.
How does a pension sharing order work?
A pension sharing order transfers a fixed percentage of your spouse’s pension into an entirely separate pension in your own name. Once implemented, your pension operates completely independently of your former spouse’s.
Section 21A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 defines a pension sharing order as one that provides for a party’s shareable rights under a pension arrangement to be subject to pension sharing for the benefit of the other party and specifies the percentage value to be transferred. If you receive a pension credit under this order, that credit becomes your own pension asset, and any contributions either of you make afterwards benefit only the person making them. Pension sharing orders are the most commonly used mechanism for dividing pensions because they give you a clean break on that specific asset, closing off any future dependence between you and your former spouse on that pension.
The court can only make a pension sharing order as part of your divorce or civil partnership dissolution proceedings. The order is not available if you separate but do not formally divorce, something you need to be aware of if you are not ready to completely end your marriage.
What is a pension attachment order?
A pension attachment order earmarks part of your former spouse’s pension for future payment to you once that pension comes into payment so that you receive the pension income directly from the pension company. The pension itself remains entirely in your former spouse’s name throughout.
Unlike a pension sharing order, an attachment order does not create a separate pension for you. The order instead directs the pension scheme to pay a defined portion of income, and sometimes a portion of any lump sum, directly to you. However, this arrangement carries real risk if you are the receiving spouse and your former spouse dies. The risk is that our pension payments stop automatically if your former spouse dies or if you remarry. This needs careful consideration and expert advice on how these risks could be mitigated.
Pension attachment orders are now comparatively rare in practice, precisely because they keep both of you financially connected for years after your divorce concludes. This route suits your situation only if sharing is not possible under the scheme rules (which is rare) or you specifically prefer ongoing income to an immediate transfer of pension.
What is pension offsetting?
Offsetting swaps a share of one spouse’s pension value for other capital, avoiding any pension order altogether. This route suits you if you strongly prefer to keep the family home rather than share a pension or to receive more capital and less pension.
Under offsetting, the spouse with the larger pension keeps it in full (or a larger share), while you receive a larger share of the other assets, typically the family home, to compensate. Offsetting requires careful legal advice because pension value and cash value are not equivalent pound for pound: tax usually applies to pension income on receipt, and you cannot access pension funds before a set age, so a straightforward one-for-one swap between pension value and property equity can leave you worse off in practice. This is a complex calculation which usually requires expert advice and a report from a pensions on divorce expert.
| Approach | What happens to the pension | Timing of benefit for you | Risk if you remarry |
| Pension sharing order | Split into two separate pensions | Immediate clean break | None, your pension is independent |
| Pension attachment order | Remains with original holder | Paid on retirement of holder | Your payments usually stop |
| Offsetting | Retained in full by one spouse | No pension order needed | Not applicable |
Why does pension valuation matter so much?
Pension valuation matters because the cash equivalent transfer value produced by the pension company t can significantly understate what a defined benefit pension is really worth to the member. This applies especially to NHS, teachers’, Police and Fire Officers, and other public sector schemes.
A cash equivalent transfer value, or CETV, is the figure your pension scheme calculates to represent the capital value of your benefits. For a defined contribution pension, this figure closely reflects the pension’s real worth, because the fund simply holds invested capital. For a defined benefit or final salary scheme, the CETV can be a poor guide to the pension’s true value, because the figure does not always reflect the guaranteed income the scheme promises to pay for life or annual automatic increases and other benefits such as former spouse death benefits.
The Pension Advisory Group’s July 2019 guide to the treatment of pensions on divorce recommends a pensions on divorce expert report wherever a defined benefit scheme is involved or the CETV exceeds £100,000. An actuary or pensions on divorce expert can produce a report comparing your pension’s income value to its transfer value, helping you and your former spouse agree a genuinely fair division rather than one based on a misleading headline figure.
For more information please see below.
Your Guide To Divorce Financial Settlements
Talk to Purcell Solicitors
Pension sharing is one of the most complex areas of a financial settlement, and our pensions and divorce solicitors regularly advise couples on the right approach for their retirement savings. If you need to work out what your pension is really worth or which division route suits your situation, we can guide you through the options and connect you with an actuary where you need one. Our family law team advises on pension sharing, attachment, and offsetting across Milton Keynes, and you can reach us through our contact page.
Please note this article does not constitute legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can my ex-spouse claim my pension years after we divorce?
Yes, your ex-spouse can bring a pension claim years after your divorce if no Consent Order or court order has closed off financial claims between you. Only a sealed order with a clean break clause prevents this.
Do I need an actuary to divide a pension in divorce?
Not always, but an actuary or pensions on divorce expert become important once a defined benefit scheme is involved or your pension’s CETV is large relative to your other assets. The transfer value alone can otherwise understate what the pension is really worth to you. We will advise you on whether you require an actuary or pensions on divorce expert report.
What happens to my pension if I remarry after a pension sharing order?
Nothing changes to a pension sharing order after you remarry, because the pension credit becomes your own separate asset at the point of the order. This differs from a pension attachment order, which usually stops if you remarry as the receiving spouse.
Senior Family Law Partner & Director – SRA No. 258177
Pauline Purcell is the Managing Director and founder of Purcell Solicitors, a specialist family law firm based in Milton Keynes. She qualified as a solicitor and built her early career at Fennemores, a top-100 legal firm in central Milton Keynes, where she became a partner and head of the family department before establishing Purcell Solicitors in 2005.
She has specialised exclusively in family law for over 30 years. Her qualifications span several disciplines: she is a solicitor, a trained mediator, a collaborative lawyer, and a family arbitrator, and she was among the first collaborative lawyers in England. She holds a law degree from the University of Buckingham, where she also lectured on the part-time undergraduate law programme.
Chambers and Partners has ranked Pauline as a Band 1 practitioner for Family/Matrimonial in the Thames Valley for several years. The 2025 Chambers and Partners Guide describes her as “incredibly astute and excels at getting to the heart of the issue,” “robust and frighteningly clever,” and “a rock and massive support” to clients throughout their cases. She is also listed as a Leading Lawyer by Wiselaw.
Her particular expertise lies in high-value financial cases, including those involving business assets, pensions, and complex or international elements. She is a long-standing member of Resolution and is committed to reaching negotiated agreements wherever possible, though she regularly represents clients in court and family arbitration when proceedings become necessary.
Pauline is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number: 258177). She can be contacted at pauline@purcellsolicitors.co.uk.