I have (almost) never worked, and now I am getting divorced. How will this affect my pension?

You can find out here how a divorce can affect a person who has worked. Now, let us examine the issue from the point of view of the spouse of the person who has worked. How does this affect the pension of the spouse who has (almost) never worked?

Let us take the following situation as an example: a marriage ends after 20 years. During these 20 years, the wife stayed at home to raise the children. What is she entitled to?

THE STATUTORY PENSION

During these 20 years, the woman did not have paid employment. She therefore did not have the possibility to build up her own pension. However, through her marriage, she is entitled to a "divorced spouse's pension". This pension is calculated in the same way as a normal pension. For all of the years of marriage, the pension is calculated as though the spouse had worked and was building up a pension.

This is the case if the spouse worked as an employee or was self-employed. As we have seen, a civil servant is always entitled to the single pensioner rate. For this reason, the ex-spouse (of a divorced civil servant) is not entitled to a divorced spouse's pension. This is also the case if the people were legal or de facto cohabitants for 20 years. In this case, the spouse who no longer lives with the civil servant will not be entitled to a divorced spouse's pension.

If the person starts to work as an employee, self-employed worker or civil servant after the divorce, he/she will of course be entitled to a pension based on his/her own career. However, it is likely that the amount of the pension will be low, firstly because he/she will probably not earn very much, and secondly because he/she will have had an incomplete career. These two factors will result in a small pension. In addition, this person will not be entitled to the minimum pension. In order to receive the minimum pension, a person must have had a career which is equal to two thirds of a full career, i.e. 30 years. If he/she only starts to work after 20 years of marriage, it is impossible to reach 30 years before the age of 65.

THE SUPPLEMENTARY PENSION

Let us now examine the same situation, but with respect to the supplementary pension. If the woman was (almost) never employed because she stayed at home to raise the children, is she entitled to a share of the supplementary pension of her ex-spouse?

If the couple were married under the regime of the community of property, the spouse may in principle receive compensation amounting to 50% of the supplementary pension built up during the marriage. As we have already discussed, this is not an easy calculation. This must therefore be done based on mutual consent or the decision of a judge.

THE INCOME GUARANTEE FOR THE ELDERLY(IGE)

This situation is of course not ideal for the divorced spouse. Thankfully, in such a case, there is the IGE, or Income Guarantee for the Elderly, which allows people over age 64 with insufficient means to receive an income.