Published on 28 August 2025

Divorced couples

Divorce has an impact on the provident scheme of both spouses. Their future entitlement to an OASI old-age or invalidity pension (first pillar) is calculated by dividing their combined income during the years of their marriage equally between them. Occupational pension (second pillar) entitlements accrued during the marriage are also shared equally between the former spouses. The dissolution of a registered partnership is equivalent to a divorce.

Benefits

Your marital status has a bearing on first- and second-pillar benefits. This applies equally to married and divorced couples.

• Old-age and invalidity benefits

  First pillar

  If you divorce, the income on which you and your spouse paid contributions during your marriage is divided equally between you. This income is used as the basis for calculating your OASI old-age pension and, where applicable, your invalidity pension from the invalidity insurance.

  This division of income is called splitting and is intended to protect the person in the couple with the lower income.

  If you have children with your ex-spouse and share parental authority and custody, you must decide who is entitled to the parenting credits that will be included in the OASI pension calculation. By either a formal settlement reached with the competent authorities or by agreement between the parents, these credits can be awarded in full to one parent or divided between the two.

  Second pillar

  Under the occupational pension scheme, you are generally entitled to half of the retirement assets your spouse acquired during your marriage, and vice versa. Assets acquired prior to your marriage are not divided.

  These retirement assets serve as the basis for calculating old-age and invalidity pensions provided under the occupational pension scheme.

  Further informations:

  • in German: Berufliche Vorsorge bei Scheidung - Leitfaden für verheiratete und eingetragene Paare (PDF)
  • in French: Prévoyance professionnelle en cas de divorce - Guide à l’intention des couples mariés et partenaires enregistré·e· s (PDF)
  • in Italian: Previdenza professionale in caso di divorzio : Guida per le coppie coniugate o registrate (PDF)

  If you or your ex-spouse were in receipt of a second-pillar pension at the time of your divorce, there are two ways of calculating the transferable assets:

  • If you are claiming an invalidity pension but have not yet reached retirement age, the pension fund will first calculate a “hypothetical termination benefit". The equitable division principle also applies here.
  • If you are claiming an old-age or invalidity pension from your occupational pension fund and have already reached retirement age, the pension paid at that point is divided. The court decides at its discretion how the pension is to be divided between the spouses. The equitable division principle serves as a guideline in this instance.

  For divorcing binational couples who married abroad but have pension assets in Switzerland, the Swiss courts always have jurisdiction (based on the place of residence/origin of the insured person in Switzerland, and possibly the registered office of the pension fund).

  Third pillard

  The division of pillar 3a assets depends on the former couple's matrimonial property regime. In the absence of a contractually agreed arrangement, the participation in acquired property regime generally applies. In such instances, the pillar 3a (restricted private pension plan) savings which accrued during the marriage are divided equally.

• Survivors' benefits

  If your former spouse dies and you have not remarried since your divorce, you may be entitled to survivors' benefits from the OASI and occupational pension schemes. More information:

  • Leaflet: OASI survivors' pension
  • Survivors' benefits in occupational pension scheme

• Family allowances

  If you are divorced, you are entitled to family allowances for children in your care. Where you share custody with your former spouse, you can jointly decide whether one of you should receive the full allowance or whether it should be divided equally between you.

Contributions

If you are divorced and are not in paid work, you are responsible for paying the obligatory contributions to the OASI, invalidity insurance and income compensation allowances. You no longer benefit from insurance cover through the contributions paid by your ex-spouse.

Overview of all contributions

Income splitting application

First pillar

Following your divorce, you can ask your OASI office to divide the income between you and your ex-spouse. It is advisable to submit a joint application with your ex-spouse as soon as your divorce is finalised. If you do not, the OASI office will divide the income at the latest when it calculates your OASI pension.

Second pillar

As regards the division of occupational benefit assets, the judge will ask your and your ex-spouse's pension fund and/or vested benefits institution for a statement of the assets accrued during the marriage. The court then decides on the equitable division of pensions as part of the divorce proceedings. The pension fund and/or vested benefits institution will divide the assets in accordance with the terms set out in the divorce decree.

You and your ex-spouse can jointly forgo the division of your occupational pension assets if both have ‘adequate’ retirement provisions and/or cover against the risk of invalidity. This decision must be the subject of an agreement approved by a judge.

Reporting non-compliance with child support obligations (second pillar)

The law prevents a divorcee withdrawing their occupational pension capital if they have not paid the child support that they owe the other parent.

If your ex-spouse fails to comply with their child support obligation, the office which provides debt collection assistance must report this to your ex-spouse's occupational pension fund using one of the following forms (in German):

• Formular 1 für die Meldung der Fachstelle an die Vorsorge- und/oder Freizügigkeitseinrichtung

  PDF646.87 kB16 December 2021

• Formular 2 für den Widerruf der Meldung an die Vorsorge- und/oder Freizügigkeitseinrichtung

  PDF283.32 kB12 May 2021

• Formular 3 für die Meldung des Zuständigkeitswechsels an die Vorsorge- und/oder Freizügigkeitseinrichtung

  PDF104.97 kB12 May 2021

• Formular 4 für die Anfrage an die Zentralstelle 2. Säule

  PDF362.18 kB12 May 2021

• Formular 5 für die Meldung der Vorsorge- und/oder Freizügigkeitseinrichtung an die Fachstelle(n), die die Meldung eingereicht hat (haben)

  PDF656.55 kB16 December 2021

Contact

List of OASI offices:

Cantonal compensation offices | Contacts | OASI/DI Information Center

Professional fund associations | Contacts | OASI/DI Information Center

Enquiries about benefit credit balances:

Homepage | LOB Guarantee Fund Foundation