Following the end of a relationship the Court may award a proportion of a pension’s benefits to a former spouse/civil partner/ qualified cohabitant, and/or dependent child/children under a Pensions Adjustment Order.

Read Edel Mc Caffrey’s Irish Broker article here as she outlines the complexities of Pension Adjustment Orders including the following points:

• A Pension Adjustment Order (PAO) is a Court Order instructing the trustees/life office of the pension to allocate part/all of the retirement and/or death benefits under a pension plan to the person(s) seeking the order.
• A PAO can be served on any type of pension plan – Occupational Pension Schemes (including AVCs), PRSAs, Personal Pensions and Buy-Out Bonds (BOB).
• A PAO is granted on a specific member’s pension. Therefore if a scheme transfers to a Master Trust or to a PRSA the PAO does not, under current law, follow to the new scheme. This means that the non-member spouse loses their benefits.

Edel highlights the need for a change in legislation to ensure that benefits awarded under a PAO are transferable if the pension moves scheme or provider.