Your spouse worked for 30 years to build up a pension, and you were married for 15 years of that employment. When you got divorced, you got a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) saying that you got 50 percent of your spouse’s pension for that 15 years. In total, it’s about 25 percent of the entire pension.
After all, that pension counts as a marital asset. Your spouse earned it while you were married. You have a right to that money, just like you would have a right to wages earned during the marriage. Delaying the payment through a pension changes nothing.
Now, with your divorce five years behind you, you are ready to get married again. But will your second marriage impact your rights to the pension? Do you lose that monthly income if you and your new significant other decide to tie the knot?
No. If you had a right to that pension before, you still retain it after marriage. After all, the pension is not alimony or spousal support, which your ex could argue that you do not need if you got married again. It is just an asset that got divided during the divorce. That’s vastly different, and your marital status never changes your rights to any assets from a previous marriage. The pension just feels different since it pays out every month, but it is fundamentally no different.
It is very important to understand exactly how this process works. You need to know what legal rights you have, what steps to take and how to protect the assets you deserve.