Submit a separation agreement or court order

Send us a copy of your separation agreement or registered court order so we know how to divide your pension between you and your former spouse.

If your pension is to be divided between you and your former spouse, you must provide us with clear instructions about how we should divide the pension. This information needs to be clearly identified in a separation agreement or court order.

You may want to work with a lawyer to prepare the separation agreement or court order.

The document you send us should include the following:

• The correct name of the pension plan (or plans) to be divided.
• The start and end dates (day, month and year) of the entitlement period. The Family Law Act normally considers this to be from the time you and your former spouse started living together until the date you separated.
• Your former spouse’s share of the pension expressed as a percentage amount. The Family Law Act defaults to 50 per cent of pension earned during the entitlement period, but it can also be more or less. If the percentage is more or less than 50 per cent, we need your court order or separation agreement to indicate the correct percentage amount.

We cannot divide a pension by a set dollar amount.

Note: you need to seek the help of a lawyer if there are any special requirements for dividing the pension that are different from those under the Family Law Act. For example, if the division will include any service purchased after the entitlement date.

Forward a copy of the complete, signed separation agreement or registered court order to the Municipal Pension Plan.

All plan members are eligible to submit a separation agreement or court order to tell us how to divide a pension between them and a former spouse.