Will my state pension increase if I get properly divorced?

I have just found out I’m not divorced after 30 years. I never applied for my decree nisi.

I would like to ask about my state pension as it’s very low. I’m only getting £78 per week. My husband gets a full pension.

If I get divorced now would it mean I could receive more state pension?

I really don’t want to pursue it, as it’s going to cost me money which I don’t have, unless it benefits me in getting more than £78 in state pension.

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Steve Webb replies: Assuming that you reached state pension age before 6 April 2016 and therefore come under the ‘old’ state pension system, it is highly likely that you would get more pension as a divorced woman than you currently do as a married woman.

Under the old state pension system, a woman who reached state pension age could benefit from the National Insurance Contributions of a current husband or an ex-husband or a late husband.

The way in which the system worked was different depending on whether you were still married, divorced or widowed.

In the case of divorced women, they had the opportunity to substitute the National Insurance record of their ex-husband for their own NI record for the period up to the date of the divorce.

Where the husband had a long working life behind him at the time of the divorce, this substitution could mean that a divorced woman would get a full or near-full basic state pension as a result.

In your case, if you were to divorce now, it would presumably be your husband’s entire NI record which would come into play.

As you have told me that he is getting a full state pension then it is quite likely that you would also qualify for a full basic pension, now payable at £134.25 per week.

Assuming you take legal advice around a divorce, you should also ask whether you are entitled to share any of your ex-husband’s occupational or private pension income as well.

For divorced people who reach state pension age on or after 6 April 2016, no such state pension provisions apply.

This is one of a small number of ‘cliff-edges’ in the system which happened when the old rules were switched off in 2016.

This means it is all the more important that at the time of divorce both parties take good advice to ensure that they get a fair share of any private pension income that each accrued during their marriage, or at least that this is taken into account in any overall settlement.