Pension rights
adjustment
Pension rights adjustment:how pension entitlements are divided
Mieke Karcher, attorney at law · as of July 2026
Anyone who held back professionally during the marriage, whether for the children, for a move or for the other's career, often notices it only late and in an unexpected place: on the pension statement. That is exactly where the Versorgungsausgleich (pension rights adjustment) comes in.
What both spouses built up in pension entitlements during the marriage is divided between them on divorce, in half and as a rule automatically (§ 1 VersAusglG). You do not have to apply for it: the family court carries the adjustment out in the divorce proceedings of its own motion. The term sounds unwieldy; the thought behind it is simple: what arose in provision during the marriage counts as a joint achievement.
Why at
all
Why it is divided at all
Often one partner builds up considerably more pension provision than the other: because they earn more, or because the other cares for the children and holds back professionally for that. Without an adjustment, one would end up with a full pension and the other with a gap that can no longer be closed in old age. The pension rights adjustment ensures that both take the same cover with them, regardless of who earned how much during the marriage.
What is
adjusted
Every entitlement from the period of the marriage
What is adjusted is every entitlement to an old-age or invalidity pension that arose during the marriage (§ 2 VersAusglG): the state pension as well as civil servants' and professional schemes, occupational pension provision and private pensions such as Riester or Rürup.
What counts is solely the period of the marriage, and that is precisely defined. It begins with the month of the wedding and ends on the last day of the month before the divorce petition is served (§ 3 (1) VersAusglG). What was built up before or after that stays out.
Internal
division
One pension account becomes two
Each entitlement is divided individually, normally internally (§ 10 VersAusglG). The entitled spouse receives an entitlement of their own within the same pension system: one pension account becomes two. No money flows between the spouses, and each of them afterwards disposes of their own share with the same provider, independently of the other.
Nobody pays anything out to the other, and nobody loses access to a joint account. A second one comes into being.
Why it takes
longer
The most common reason for a postponed hearing
Because the adjustment runs of the court's own motion, the court obtains information from every pension provider involved. Their queries are the most common reason why a divorce hearing is postponed.
At this point you really do have an influence on the pace: the more promptly and completely the providers' questionnaires go back, the fewer queries arise. Every open query costs weeks. Which entitlements belong in the questionnaire and which are regularly forgotten is shown in filling in the pension adjustment questionnaire.
The
exceptions
When it does not apply, and whether it can be excluded
Where a marriage was short, up to three years, the pension rights adjustment takes place only if a spouse expressly applies for it (§ 3 (3) VersAusglG); otherwise it is omitted. And where individual entitlements or the differences in value are only minor, the court can refrain from the adjustment on grounds of proportionality (§ 18 VersAusglG). That spares everyone the effort for tiny amounts.
The adjustment can also be excluded, by a notarized agreement in a prenuptial agreement or in a divorce settlement agreement (§§ 6–8 VersAusglG): both spouses can exclude it entirely or arrange it differently.
That is not without consequence, though: a waiver hits your cover in old age directly, and the family court therefore examines such agreements for validity and fairness. Because the consequences often only show decades later, advice pays off before signing, not after.
All four exceptions, a short marriage, minor amounts, gross inequity and agreement, are set out in when the pension rights adjustment does not apply.
Work it out
yourself
Working out the pension split yourself
What happens to pension entitlements on divorce? Our calculator halves each entitlement built up during the marriage individually, as internal division provides (§ 10 VersAusglG), and shows what passes to the other's own account, with a conversion into pension points and a note where an entitlement falls below the de minimis threshold (§ 18 VersAusglG).
The calculation runs entirely in your browser: nothing is transmitted.
Entitlements from the marriage period
What is transferred
Enter at least one entitlement with a value.
Simplified illustration. Each entitlement is divided separately within its own scheme (internal division, § 10 VersAusglG): no money flows between the spouses, and different entitlements are not offset. The calculator converts pension points (Entgeltpunkte) into €/month using the current pension value (Rentenwert) (€42.52, as at 1 July 2026); capital values (company pension, Riester/Rürup) remain as capital, because annuitising them requires the provider’s factor. It gauges the minor-value note under § 18 VersAusglG against the 2026 reference figure (Bezugsgröße) (€39.55 as a pension amount or €4,746 as a capital value). Only the pension providers’ statements are decisive: have it calculated precisely.
The calculation is free, runs entirely in your browser and gives a first orientation, not a calculation for your individual case.
How we
support you
Of the court's own motion does not mean right by itself
That the court carries out the adjustment of its own motion does not mean it comes out right without anyone's help. The calculation is only as good as the information it rests on. And in practice entitlements are forgotten: an old company pension, a direct insurance policy from an earlier job, an entitlement from a few years of work abroad.
In concrete
terms
What we take on for you
We first clarify which entitlements count at all and what the adjustment means concretely for your cover in old age. We go through the providers' information and recalculate the division; we fill in the questionnaires with you promptly and completely, because every query lengthens the proceedings.
Whether an adjustment is omitted because the marriage was short or the entitlements minor we examine, as we do any agreement you have in mind, and we do it before you sign. Whether waiving pension entitlements really outweighs taking over a house is not a question of negotiation but of arithmetic.
Meetings take place at Frankenallee in Frankfurt-Gallus or by video, in German, English or Spanish as you prefer. Bring whatever pension statements you have to hand; we reply to written enquiries usually within one working day.
How the process
runs
From the marriage window to the second account
First the marriage window is fixed: from the month of the wedding to the end of the month before the petition is served (§ 3 (1) VersAusglG). Within that window all entitlements with all providers are collected, for which the providers send out their questionnaires, the step where you have a say in the pace.
After that the court obtains the information and calculates the adjustment, without anyone having to apply for anything. With the order, each of you finally receives an entitlement of their own: one account becomes two.
That is the usual course; an individual case may differ (as of 2026).
Frequent
questions
What we are asked most often about this
What about what I built up before the marriage?
That stays out. What is divided is exclusively what arose within the period of the marriage (§ 3 (1) VersAusglG); entitlements from the time before and from the time after service of the divorce petition continue to belong to you alone.
Because of the children I have hardly any entitlements of my own. What does that mean for me?
That is exactly the case the pension rights adjustment is meant for. Half of the entitlements your spouse built up during the marriage passes to an account of your own in your name (§ 1 VersAusglG); you do not depend on payments from the other for that, but hold an entitlement of your own with the pension provider.
Can we speed the adjustment up?
In part. The time-critical step is the information from the pension providers, and that depends on how quickly and how completely the questionnaires go back. Everything else lies with the court and the providers.
What comes
next
The second calculation and what else counts
Assets & accrued gains
How the pension rights adjustment is delimited from the assets and why the same euro is not divided twice.
ViewQuestionnaireFilling in the pension adjustment questionnaire
Which entitlements belong in it and which are regularly forgotten.
ReadExceptionsWhen the pension rights adjustment does not apply
A short marriage, minor amounts, gross inequity and agreement.
ReadDurationHow long does a divorce take?
Because the adjustment is frequently the reason why a divorce hearing is postponed.
ReadAgreementDivorce settlement agreement
Where it belongs if the adjustment is to be excluded in whole or in part.
ViewSources
The provisions mentioned in the text in their official wording at “Gesetze im Internet”, the portal of the German Federal Ministry of Justice.
Contact
You do not have to take the first step alone
Tell us about your situation. We reply personally, usually within one working day.