1 December 2025 saw the 25th anniversary of the introduction of pension sharing on divorce.

Introduced to allow a divorcing couple to do something other than offset the value of their pension against other assets or have an attachment order against the member’s pension, sharing allows for a once and for all slice of the pension to be provided to the former spouse.

To mark its silver anniversary, pension scheme trustees may want to share (in their own words) the following key facts with anyone thinking about an order to make sharing easier:

• Pensioners also get divorced – and they often don’t realise that, in making a pension sharing order against a pension in payment, then the quicker it is implemented, the better it is for the pensioner member.

The reason for this is that the pensioner is being overpaid, by still getting their full pension from the moment the order is effective until it is fully implemented. Therefore, the member ends up having to pay the scheme back. Get your papers in order upfront to reduce the window of any overpayment.

• Pension scheme’s charges – pension schemes are not, by law, expected to subsidise a divorce and can charge for providing information and implementing an order. This still comes as a shock to many – so ask upfront for the scheme’s charges and options of payment and factor them in.
• Where do all the pension credits of former spouses go? – despite haggling in a financial settlement for a pension share, it’s quite common for schemes to find themselves chasing up to find out which receiving pension arrangement they should be paying the pension credit to in respect of the former spouse.

No interest or investment return attaches to a pension credit. It just sits in limbo in a scheme with its buying power being eaten by inflation, and annuity prices carry on looking less attractive by the month. So, get your ducks in a row please former spouses, and make sure you have a pension vehicle to get the pension credit paid into.

• Can you have a 100% order? – yes, and if you are the member that means if you are deferred or pensioner that’s the end of the story (so stop trying it on!), but if you are an active member benefits accrued post the pension sharing order being implemented remain yours.
• Do schemes still have to deal with pension attachment orders (old fashioned earmarking orders) against the member’s benefits? – put simply, yes. Such orders are perceived as being riskier unless a pension is already in payment or drawdown, as they attach to the benefit and cease once the benefit ceases to be paid to the member (i.e. there is a gamble on who dies first).
• Share and share again? – the serial divorcee, with a large pension can share once, twice and three times etc. If Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were around after 1 December 2000 and had an interest in pensions as opposed to diamonds, then Taylor’s Hollywood pension could (let’s not assume Burton had the most money in a modern world) have been shared, after each of their divorces.
• Why is it so hard? – pensions sadly aren’t easy and are complex.

With adequacy concerns over DC pensions, it is important that people understand what a cash equivalent is and why the pension “share” is based on that figure. Even more importantly, they should take independent advice on how that “pension credit” translates into an actual pension payment from a DB scheme or, more likely, into benefits from a DC arrangement.

After a quarter of a century, pension sharing is here to stay; it just needs a little bit of love and understanding.