This unique aspect of law enforcement and firefighter pensions complicates dividing property in a divorce. As a result, many law enforcement divorces involve creative problem-solving by lawyers well-versed in pension division issues. Beller Law, PL, has years of experience in such pension divisions to save you time, money, and frustration. Our education-first, time-conscious approach has helped countless families through our 25 years as a firm.
How Are Assets Usually Divided During Divorce?
Under Florida law, both spouses are entitled to marital assets and liabilities, regardless of how the assets are titled. Assets either spouse acquired during marriage qualify, as do any improvements to the value of marital assets based on work performed during the marriage.
When you divorce, the court begins with the assumption that your marital assets and liabilities should be split equally. The court must then evaluate the specific facts of your relationship, including:
- Each spouse’s financial and homemaking contributions,
- Each spouse’s economic circumstances,
- How long the marriage lasted,
- Whether one spouse’s career or education was interrupted or put on hold during the marriage,
- The contributions of each spouse to the other’s education or career,
- The value of keeping assets free and clear of a legal claim by the other spouse,
- The contributions of each spouse to improve marital and nonmarital property,
- The value of a spouse retaining the marital home, and
- Any intentional harm either spouse has caused to marital assets.
Property acquired before the marriage or after the spouses officially agreed to divorce is not marital property and cannot be divided in a divorce. However, nonmarital property may factor into the court’s consideration of each spouse’s economic circumstances.
How Do You Divide Pensions in a Divorce?
Pension division in divorce follows the normal rules of equitable division. The portion of the pension earned while the spouses were married qualifies as marital property and must be divided equitably. Despite the similarity of “equal” and “equitable” and the provision requiring courts to start with an assumption that property should be split evenly, equitable division does not require a 50/50 split.
Factors particularly likely to influence pension distribution generally involve each spouse’s occupation, earning potential, and contributions to each other’s occupation and earning potential. Suppose spouses have relatively equal earning potential, contributed relatively equally to each other’s education and career, and each earned their own pension. In that case, the court may conclude no pension division is necessary.
However, the court has the authority to consider awarding a division of each pension to the other spouse if that will better equalize or fairly divide what each spouse will ultimately receive in the divorce.
How Do Law Enforcement Pensions Work?
Florida police officers and firefighters earn special pension benefits under the uniform standards set by the state and enforced by the Florida Retirement System (FRS). Police officers and firefighters can retire as early as 52 after 25 years of service or 55 after 10 years of service. You calculate the pension amount using the earner’s average annual compensation in the five highest years out of the last ten years of their eligible working years. Multiply that number by 2.75%, then by total years of service to determine the final guaranteed pension amount.
Under Florida law, law enforcement pensions and any accumulated contributions or investment profits cannot be assigned, executed on, or attached to by any legal process. This means benefits must generally go to the person who earned them and cannot be divided like marital property typically is in divorce cases involving pensions.
What Happens to a Pension in a Law Enforcement Divorce?
Since, under the law, the pension cannot be divided or attached to by any legal process, the person who earned the pension often keeps it. However, this is not the end of the story for a law enforcement pension in divorce, and there are legal methods to otherwise divide a law enforcement or firefighter pension.
There are many ways to go about arranging equitable compensation for the pension. The pension holder may sacrifice some property now for the benefit of the pension later on. Or the pension-holding spouse may have to pay alimony or increase the amount or duration of alimony payments. In some cases, the spouses might set up a trust to distribute assets down the line, allowing a workaround to the indivisibility of law enforcement pensions.
At Beller Law, PL, we work closely with our clients to determine what is in his or her best interest, whether we are focused on protecting the pension for our law enforcement and firefighter clients or requesting an equitable division of the pension for the spouse.
Law Enforcement and Firefighter Divorce Lawyer for Pension Division
Dividing marital property equitably becomes significantly more complicated when one spouse has earned a law enforcement or firefighter pension. If you need a divorce and you or your spouse is entitled to a law enforcement or firefighter pension, consult a divorce lawyer with specific experience in this area. At Beller Law, PL. our 25 years of experience have allowed us to develop strategies and particularized legal advice on the most advantageous way for our clients to address these pensions. Contact us today to learn more.