Pension Laws for Divorce in Georgia

Retirement benefits are subject to division during a divorce in Georgia.ring image by Jens Klingebiel from Fotolia.com

In Georgia, each spouse has equal interest in all property that was acquired by either spouse during the course of the marriage. Marital property under this definition can consist of all assets acquired during the marriage by either spouse, including retirement benefits and pensions. The divorce court will assume that any property, including a pension, is marital property unless one spouse can show that the property should be considered separate property.

Government Pensions

In Georgia, all pensions and retirement benefits that accumulated during a marriage are divided equally during a divorce. The spouse who did not earn the pension is entitled to one-half of the benefits earned during the marriage. Pensions are divided by a "qualified domestic relations order." This document directs the pension plan administrator, usually the spouse's employer, to award to the divorced spouse the court-mandated portion of the pension. Each spouse is entitled to the same pension rights, such as early withdrawal options and cost-of-living adjustments. They are both eligible to receive the pension benefits at the same time.

The state of Georgia considers government pensions an exception to the general divorce rule. If the employee is a government worker with a pension, the court may award the entire pension to the government employee-spouse and order her to buy out the nonemployee-spouse's interest. The court or another neutral party evaluates the pension plan to determine its value, then the court divides it between the two spouses. Only the parts of the pension benefits that were earned during the marriage are subject to distribution. The court has judicial discretion to order the amount of money it will cost to buy one spouse out of the pension benefits.

Pension amounts earned during divorce proceedings can have a bearing on the amount of child support one spouse must pay to the other. Pension awards can count as income when the court decides how much money a person makes per year for child support purposes. The amount of child support that a spouse has to pay to another spouse is usually based on income. Thus, pension benefits can be counted twice, as both an asset during the property division process and as income for the calculation of child support. A pensioner getting a divorce might have to pay out half his pension to his wife, and then use a percentage of his monthly pension as child support.