[News Terms] "Please Share the Pension of Divorced Spouse," Pension Division System

The divided pension operated by the National Pension Service is a system designed to guarantee a stable old-age life for divorced spouses by recognizing the mental and material contributions of the spouse during the marriage period and paying the divided portion accordingly. It was introduced with the intention of ensuring a certain level of old-age income by acknowledging the mental and material contributions made during the marriage period, even if one was unable to join the National Pension Service due to raising children and doing housework at home in 1999.

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However, not all divorced spouses can receive the divided pension upon divorce. First, to receive the divided pension, the divorced spouse must be a pension beneficiary, and the marriage period with that spouse must be at least five years. If there are periods during the marriage when a ‘substantial marital relationship did not exist,’ such as separation during which the spouse did not bear household or childcare responsibilities, those periods are excluded from the pension division calculation period. Periods recognized as having no marital relationship either between the divorce parties or by court judgment are also excluded.

Additionally, the divorced spouse must be a recipient of the old-age pension, and both the applicant for the divided pension and the divorced spouse must have reached the age to receive the old-age pension. The starting age for old-age pension benefits by birth year is 61 for those born between 1953 and 1956, 62 for 1957 to 1960, 63 for 1961 to 1964, 64 for 1965 to 1968, and 65 for those born in 1969 or later. If the divorced spouse dies before obtaining the right to receive the divided pension, causing the old-age pension entitlement to expire, the divided pension cannot be received.

The pension division is basically structured to pay half of the old-age pension amount (excluding the family support pension amount) corresponding to the marriage period to each divorced spouse. However, since 2017, the division ratio can be determined through mutual agreement between the parties or by court ruling.

Meanwhile, according to the National Pension Service, as of February 2024, the number of beneficiaries receiving the divided pension after applying reached 77,421, which is a 6.5-fold increase over the past 10 years. By gender, women accounted for 68,239 (88.1%) and men 9,182 (11.9%). The average monthly amount of the divided pension as of February this year is 247,482 won.