We’re not married. What happens to our pensions if we separate?
A pension is a plan that pays its members after they retire. Sometimes a pension also pays after a member is fired or laid off, becomes disabled, or dies.
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is a special type of pension. You can apply to divide CPP credits that you and your common-law partner earned during your relationship if you lived together for at least one year.
For other types of pensions, partners in a do not automatically have a right to share in the value of each other's pensions. This is not true for partners, who have different rights.
When common-law partners separate, the pension plan member usually keeps the full value of the pension.
They only have to share in the value of their pension if they have an agreement, , or award that says they have to share it. A court or arbitrator will only say that a pension needs to be shared in limited situations since common-law partners don't usually share property.
