Submit a separation agreement or court order

Send us a copy of your separation agreement or registered court order so we know how to divide your pension between you and your former spouse.

If your pension is to be divided between you and your former spouse, you must give us clear instructions about how we should divide the pension. This information needs to be clearly stated in a complete separation agreement or court order.

You may want to work with a lawyer to prepare the separation agreement or court order.

The document you send us should include the following:

• The correct name of the pension plan (or plans) to be divided.
• The start and end dates (day, month and year) of the entitlement period. The Family Law Act normally considers this to be from the time you and your former spouse started living together until the date you separated.
• Your former spouse’s share of the pension expressed as a percentage amount. Under the Family Law Act, the standard provision is 50 per cent of the pension earned during the entitlement period, but it can also be more or less. If the percentage is more or less than 50, we need your separation agreement or court order to state the correct percentage amount.

We cannot divide a pension by a dollar amount.

We recommend that you and your former spouse get independent legal advice about your individual rights in dividing a pension. You should also seek the help of a lawyer if there are special requirements for dividing the pension that are different from those under the Family Law Act – for example, if the division will include any service purchased after the entitlement date.

Forward a copy of your complete, signed separation agreement or registered court order to BC’s Public Service Pension Plan.

All plan members can submit a separation agreement or court order to tell us how to divide a pension between them and a former spouse.