pension sharing
noun · Versorgungsausgleich
Versorgungsausgleich is the German counterpart, but it is not the discretionary pension order English law knows. On divorce the court splits every pension right the spouses built up during the marriage in half, automatically and of its own motion, § 1587 BGB and § 1 VersAusglG, as a compulsory part of the divorce itself for all but the shortest marriages, § 137 FamFG. There is usually nothing to apply for and little to argue.
Which translation, when
Why
English pension sharing is one option among several, a pension sharing order under the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 sits alongside offsetting and attachment within the court’s overall financial discretion, and it must be sought. The German Versorgungsausgleich is neither optional nor discretionary. On divorce the court equalises the pension rights the spouses acquired during the marriage, § 1587 BGB, and the rule is Halbteilung, each individual right is split in half, § 1 VersAusglG, weighed against need or conduct only through a narrow grob-unbillig exception, § 27 VersAusglG. It happens automatically, as a Folgesache tied into the divorce by the Scheidungsverbund, § 137 FamFG, and the court runs it of its own motion, the parties do not have to raise it, though after a marriage of three years or less it is done only on application, § 3 III VersAusglG. Spouses can modify or exclude it, but only by notarised agreement open to the same content review as any Ehevertrag. So rendering pension sharing as Versorgungsausgleich, or the reverse, hides that the German mechanism is mandatory, automatic and formulaic where the English one is discretionary and optional, and an English adviser who treats it as something to negotiate has misread the proceeding.
Typical mistakes
- Versorgungsausgleich is not discretionary, § 1 VersAusglG splits each pension right in half by rule, so importing the English balancing of pension sharing against need and fairness is wrong.
- It is not optional in the ordinary case, the court carries it out of its own motion as part of the divorce, § 137 FamFG, so treating it as an order to apply for misses that it usually happens automatically, the exception being a marriage of three years or less, § 3 III VersAusglG.
- It reaches every right acquired during the marriage, § 1587 BGB, not a single nominated pension, so an English one-pension sharing order is the wrong model.
What matters
A divorcing couple with pensions in both countries, the English pension sharing order in mind: rendering it as Versorgungsausgleich, or that word back into English, hides that the German split is automatic and equal, § 1587 BGB and § 1 VersAusglG, decided within the divorce itself, § 137 FamFG, not an order the parties choose to seek.
What the machine misses
Pension sharing is translated Versorgungsausgleich as if the two were the same order, but they are not. The German Versorgungsausgleich runs automatically on every divorce and splits each pension right in half by rule, § 1587 BGB and § 1 VersAusglG, while English pension sharing is one discretionary option the parties must seek. The machine hides that the German mechanism is compulsory and formulaic, so the English reader plans to negotiate something German law has already decided.
Examples
| a pension sharing order | eine Entscheidung über den Versorgungsausgleich |
| to equalise the pension rights | die Anrechte ausgleichen |
| pensions acquired during the marriage | die in der Ehezeit erworbenen Anrechte |