Anyone living in a marriage or registered civil partnership can divide the pension entitlements among themselves.
Pensioners can find everything about pension splitting here.
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Hamburg – If a spouse does not receive a large part of the pension, married couples are entitled to what is known as pension splitting.
The total pension entitlements are divided among themselves.
This is also possible for registered partnerships.
This is how pension splitting works for pensioners.
Social insurance: | German pension insurance |
Founding: | October 1, 2005 |
Insured: | 56.7 million (December 31, 2019) |
Pensioner: | 21.2M (July 1, 2020) |
Divide pension among themselves - this is how pension splitting works for pensioners
If married couples or consumers in registered civil partnerships would like to split their pension among themselves, they can apply for so-called pension splitting.
This means that both pensioners can draw the same parts of the pension.
The person with the higher pension entitlements therefore gives part of this pension to his partner.
This can be problematic for couples where one partner has not worked at all.
Various conditions must be met for pension splitting – when does it even make sense?
Pension splitting is possible if the marriage was concluded before 2002 and both spouses were born after January 1, 1962.
Pension splitting is also possible if the marriage was concluded after December 31, 2001; the year of birth is then irrelevant.
The next requirement is likely to be a hurdle for some couples: Both partners must be able to show 25 years of pensionable periods.
This includes all times that can affect the pension entitlement and the amount of the pension, i.e. the waiting period.
Consumers can also buy retirement years.
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Married couples and life partners can opt for a so-called pension splitting.
© Sebastian Kahnert/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Knowledge for pensioners: For whom is pension splitting worthwhile?
Pension splitting is only possible if the entitlement to a full old-age pension exists.
You must have reached the statutory retirement age for this.
The partner must also have reached the normal retirement age.
All regulations also apply to registered partnerships established after January 1, 2005.
A pension splitting is even possible after the death of the partner.
The surviving partner can then decide between splitting the pension or receiving the widow's pension.
When is a pension splitting for surviving dependents worthwhile according to the German pension insurance:
If you are already drawing your own pension and your income is so high that a widow's pension would not be paid out.
If a separate pension entitlement can be acquired through pension splitting and a widow's pension is not paid out because the income is too high.
If the survivor establishes a new marriage or civil partnership.
Then you can decide between an increase in the pension through pension splitting and a one-time pension settlement due to remarriage.
According to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung, pension splitting for pensioners can be particularly worthwhile for the surviving dependents who were able to collect fewer pension entitlements during the marriage or partnership.
Pension splitting automatically gives them a higher pension entitlement, which, unlike the widow's pension, also persists after remarriage.
The important thing is that the pension splitting is binding.
If couples decide to do so, no widow's pension can be applied for after the death of one.
List of rubrics: © Sebastian Kahnert/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa