IconLife changes 

    Divorce

    In case of separation or divorce, you should contact us for the purpose of advisory services related to possible changes of your pension scheme. It may also be a good idea to contact a lawyer.

    In case of divorce or separation it is important that you consider if you should change your insurances and your beneficiary(ies) in the event of death. This is called benefit - you can read more here

    On Min pension you can find your pension statement that shows how you are covered. If you want to change your insurance covers, please contact us

    If your pension scheme includes a spouse’s pension, you must decide if this insurance should be maintained. If the conditions for maintaining the spouse’s pension are met, it is important that you or your divorced spouse send us documentation of the maintained right.

     

    In certain cases your ex-spouse can maintain the right to pension benefits if:

    • your marriage has lasted at least 5 years
    • you have an actual spousal maintenance obligation towards your ex-spouse
    • your ex-spouse has not remarried.

     

    If the spousal maintenance obligation is for a limited period of time, the right to spouse’s pension benefits is only maintained as long as the maintenance obligation lasts. When you have a spousal maintenance obligation towards an ex-spouse, you cannot opt out of the spouse’s pension.

     

    If you remarry, and there are two persons entitled to spouse’s pension benefits, the pension benefits are split between the persons entitled proportionate to the number of years that the marriage has lasted. None of the entitled persons will, however, receive less than 1/3 of the spouse’s pension benefits.  

    According to the rules on separation and dirvorce you can always keep 'reasonable pensions'. Ordinary labour market pensions are always reasonable if you have not increased the contribution fixed in your collective pay agreement. Accordingly, the pension savings should as a main rule not be split. But your spouse may be entitled to compensation. 

     

    • If you have been married for less than 5 years, your pensions must not be split - whether they are reasonable or not.
    • If you already have had an endowment policy paid, but not spend the money, it should not be split. 

    If the pension must be split, the value of the part of your pension that is not considered reasonable must be included. This may also apply to payments out of the ordinary to an otherwise reasonable pension. 

     

    Compensation

    Although a pension is reasonable, and the value should not be split, your spouse may be entitled to compensation. There may a big difference between the spouses' pension. In to cases, the probate court may decide that the least well of must be compensated.

     

    • A spouse/registered partner may be compensated if the pension is below the reasonable level because of minimum 2 years of missing payments due to childbirth, part-time job or the like in order to attend to family matters. 
    • Compensation may also be paid if the marriage has lasted at least 15 years and the difference between the pensions is significant. 

     

    The compensation must as far as possible be paid in cash to avoid reducing the pension which must ensure one's own support later on. 

     

    We recommend to contact a lawyer related to splitting up funds on divorce or separation. 

    If a marriage agreement exists, savings for retirement insurance, annuity certain and endowment policy may be included in the splitting up of funds. This means that that savings for the lifelong retirement pension cannot be split on divorce.

     

    The pension fund does not provide counselling about treatment of the pension scheme on divorce or separation. We recommend to contact a lawyer for legal advice.