Are you concerned about your pension in a Rhode Island Divorce situation? Many people are concerned about their pensions and what will happen to them if the Rhode Island family court judge ends of including the pension in an equitable distribution of the marital estate.
The first consideration is when the pension was started and when the marriage started. If the pension began after the date of marriage, then the entire pension is part of the marital estate and subject to the Rhode Island Family Court's power of equitable distribution.
Generally speaking, if the pension began but did not become vested before the date of the marriage, then the contributions made prior to the date of marriage are not a marital asset nor is any appreciation that is attributable to those contributions if the pension gains interest on non-vested contributions.
From the marriage date forward, the contributions to the pension and any appreciation relating to those contributions is a marital asset subject to equitable distribution by the Rhode Island family court provided the pension has not vested.
If the pension has vested at the time the divorce is tried by the family court and the entire pension occurred during the course of the marriage, then the payment afforded by the pension then becomes the marital asset that is subject to the court's equitable power of distribution.
If the pension has vested at the time the divorce is tried by the family court and the entire pension did not accumulate with contributions solely during the marriage, then a rather complicated actuarial calculation would need to be done after the court determines the portion of the retirement payment each party is entitled to in order to determine which portion of the payment results from pre-marital contributions and is thus exempt from the equitable distribution of the court.
Since pensions follow a particular plan that participants often have little choice regarding it's accounting method or contributions, it is one of the few exceptions to the concept that the commingling of funds contributed during the marriage convert the entire asset to one that is marital in character. The contributions to pensions made prior to the marriage remain pre-marital and the contribution of those pre-marital payments to the whole of any pension payment after a pension has vested should remain exempt from the court's power of equitable distribution.
Pension issues can, and often do become the most complicated to work out legally and at trial it may be necessary to present an actuary as an expert to demonstrate the pre-marital contributions and its financial effects on your pension payment of a vested pension.
Christopher A. Pearsall, Esquire
70 Dogwood Drive, Suite 304
West Warwick, RI 02893
Call (401) 632-6976 Now for your low-cost consultation.
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Copyright 2008. Christopher A. Pearsall, Attorney-at-Law
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