Retirement provision in the event of divorce

Both spouses share in the retirement savings built up during the marriage in the AHV and pension funds. However, the mechanism for allocating the assets is different.

AHV

The contributions paid by the spouses during the marriage are split by the AHV institutions (compensation funds) and benefit both. It is advisable to inform the compensation funds about the divorce immediately. In the course of the divorce

The OASI education credits are intended to supplement the retirement provisions of parents caring for children. OASI old-age pensioners are entitled to them for each year in which they looked after children under the age of 16. If they were married, the credit for the years of marriage is divided equally between them. In the event of divorce, the court decides which parent will receive the child-rearing credits after the divorce. This can be settled by mutual agreement in the divorce settlement with allocations of 0%, 50% or 100%. If one of the parents is mainly responsible for the care of the children, he or she will receive the entire child-raising credits for the period after the divorce in the event of a dispute.

Pension funds and vested benefits

Pension fund assets (entitlements), vested benefits and policies accumulated during the marriage are generally divided equally between the spouses in the event of divorce. This also includes assets accumulated during the marriage that were drawn for the financing of owner-occupied residential property (WEF advance withdrawals). Voluntary payments made during the marriage from personal assets are not divided. Under certain circumstances, it is possible to deviate from a 50/50 division if, for example, one spouse is much younger than the other and is able to accumulate his or her retirement provision sufficiently on his or her own in the years ahead.

WEF advance withdrawals

Marital withdrawals from the pension fund or from a vested benefits institution for the promotion of home ownership (WEF) must be offset against the pension fund assets and included in the division calculation.

If, however, the recipient has become disabled or it will only take three years until he reaches the regular AHV age, the repayment obligation to the pension fund no longer applies. As a result, the capital drawn by the pension fund flows into the WEF recipient's inheritance or, in the case of community of property, into the overall estate. In the event of a divorce, the part of the capital earmarked for post-marital pensions must be allocated to the personal property.

Pension maintenance

If a spouse is no longer able to build up his or her own pension provision after the divorce, he or she is entitled to pension maintenance from the divorced spouse. The prerequisite is that the conditions for post-marital maintenance are met.