Divorce and your retirement savings Your pension or provident fund savings form part of your overall assets. Understand what happens to your retirement benefits if you divorce your spouse.

Legislation now makes provision for a member’s fund credit to be shared in the event of divorce. However, many problems arise from incomplete divorce orders.

Firstly, if a divorce order or decree for the dissolution of a customary marriage is made against your retirement fund benefits, a certified copy of the order must be sent immediately to the administrators of the fund. Provided the divorce order contains the required information, the fund will pay accordingly. The fund can then notify both parties how much will be paid and to whom.

To ensure that the benefit can be paid from the fund to your ex-spouse, you should ensure that the divorce order contain the following:

 
If the above 3 conditions are not met, the fund is not legally bound and will not make a payment to the other party.

Please see the suggested clause below:

The non-member spouse [NAME SURNAME] is entitled to [XX%] of the member’s [NAME SURNAME] Actuarial Reserve in the Engen Pension Fund. The Engen Pension Fund is ordered to pay this amount to the non-member spouse.