Pension as a divorcee

You are divorced? If so, you may be entitled to a retirement pension, calculated on the basis of your ex-spouse's career as an employee. You can combine this pension with your own retirement pension.

• Conditions
• Application
• Amounts

Conditions

In order to be entitled to a pension as a divorcee:

1. you need to be able to claim your retirement pension;
2. you may not have been divested of parental authority;
3. you may not have been convicted because you killed or attempted to kill your ex-spouse;
4. you may not have remarried, except if this new marriage was annulled after a decease or divorce.

Please note: if your ex-spouse only had a career as a civil servant while you were married, you are not entitled to a pension as a divorcee. If your ex-spouse passes away, you may be entitled to a survivor's pension.

Successive divorces

In the case of successive divorces, you may be entitled to several retirement pensions as a divorcee.

Application

We automatically investigate whether you are entitled to a pension as a divorcee when you apply for your own retirement pension.

You are already retired at the time of the divorce? In that case, you should file an application to have your pension as a divorcee investigated, unless you receive a household rate pension at the time of the divorce.

Amounts of pensions as a divorcee

We calculate the pension as a divorcee in the same way as the retirement pension. For the years during the marriage period, we calculate the pension on the basis of your ex-spouse's career, as though you yourself exercised this activity.
The marriage period starts on the day of the marriage and ends on the day on which the divorce is entered into the register of births, deaths and marriages.

Periods that are not taken into account

The following periods are not taken into account for a pension as a divorcee:

• the years with periods in another Belgian or foreign pension scheme, with the exception of periods as a self-employed worker;

the years in which you received a personal pension.

Wages

We calculate the pension as a divorcee on the basis of 62,5 % of your ex-spouse's wages. We deduct your own wages as an employee from these wages.

• Do your wages fall below 62,5 % of your ex-spouse's wages? If so, we calculate the pension as a divorcee on this basis.
• Do your wages equal or exceed 62,5 % of your ex-spouse's wages? If so, we do not calculate a pension as a divorcee.
  
  

Limitation to a full career

Just as for your own retirement pension, for the pension as a divorcee the limitation to the career unity applies.