MA State Pension Division Divorce Mediation Calculator

Massachusetts State Pension Division Divorce Mediation Calculator

 

This free divorce pension calculator allows you to see exactly how your MA state pension might be divided in divorce. Just enter basic information about your salary, age, years of service, and marriage years to get results. You do not have to wait weeks or months for your divorce lawyer to consult with an accountant.

 

Other webpages offer one hypothetical example to illustrate how a pension might be divided. This calculator gives you the actual numbers for your situation.

 

Attorney Rueschemeyer provides divorce mediation via Zoom for ALL Massachusetts counties and courts.

 

Pensions are treated as marital property in MA. You typically share the value of the part of the pension that was earned during the marriage when you get divorced. This calculator allows you to enter YOUR specific data and see the actual dollar amounts that might go to you and your ex-spouse when you retire after YOUR divorce.

 

The calculator works for MTRS (Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System) and MA SERS (State Employee Retirement System) pensions as well as county and city pensions. State pensions are administered by the Massachusetts State Retirement Board (MSRB). All MA public pensions are governed by rules in MA General Law Chapter 32. This calculator works for MA SERS Groups 1, 2, and 4,  but does yet include MA State Police Group 3 pension calculations. You can, however, use this unique calculator for calculating State Police benefits.

 

This is the only calculator of its kind. It will give you:

  1. a dollar value of your future monthly benefits under Option A,
  2. a marital coverture ratio, which defines the portion of your future monthly benefit that might go to the alternate payee (ex-spouse), and
  3. the outcomes of 7 different formulas for sharing a pension in divorce that are possible in Massachusetts.

 

Be aware that judges (and a couple’s separation agreement) may apply the marital coverture ratio in unsystematic and unpredictable ways. In the results table you see when you run your calculation, I show you how benefits would be divided with  two different coverture ratios. The pink cells use a relative time marital coverture ratio, while the blue cells use a bright line coverture ratio. Be aware, also, that a judge can simply ignore marital coverture ratios and order that 50%, or some other percentage, of the pension be awarded to the alternate payee without regard to the proportion of the pension that was earned during marriage.

 

You will understand this calculator and the numbers it produces better if you read about how to divide MA state pensions in divorce, especially the section on Massachusetts formulas.

 

When you divide a pension in a divorce, you will need a DRO (Domestic Relations Order). The MA state pension system will not divide a pension based only on a divorce agreement or decree, even if it is signed by judge. You will also need a DRO.

 

Click here to learn more about how marital property is divided in Massachusetts divorce.

 

In the results table, you will see that rows #3 and #5 are grayed out. This is because I have not seen any divorce agreements do the calculations in these ways, even though they are theoretically possible.

 

Which calculator—MTRS or SERS--would you like to use?


I would like to calculate how my MTRS Tier 1 pension might be divided in divorce
I would like to calculate how my SERS Tier 1 pension might be divided in divorce
  Disclaimer. Before filling out the form, check this box to indicate that you understand and agree with the disclaimer below.

I agree to use this calculator at my own risk and understand the following: it calculates a benefit for Tier 1 MTRS members who started before April 2, 2012; the numbers it produces are for informational purposes only; retirement benefits are determined by MTRS rather than this calculator, and the actual division of your retirement benefits will be determined by the court-certified DRO that is submitted to your pension administrator after you divorce; and the formulas used to calculate row #3 "Freeze Age Factor" and row #5 "Freeze Age Factor and Years of Service" are theoretically possible but might not occur in practice.

I agree to use this calculator at my own risk and understand the following: it calculates a benefit for SERS members who started before April 2, 2012; the numbers it produces are for informational purposes only; retirement benefits are determined by MSRB rather than this calculator, and the actual division of your retirement benefits will be determined by the court-certified DRO that is submitted to your pension administrator after you divorce; and the formulas used to calculate row #3 "Freeze Age Factor" and row #5 "Freeze Age Factor and Years of Service" are theoretically possible but might not occur in practice.

Yes No

Questions A) and B) are designed to gather information about when you earned or purchased pension credits, in order to calculate what percent of your pension credits were earned during marriage. You can enter up to six different periods of work and indicate for each what percent of pension credit you were receiving ("Percent of full-time credit earning"). You will enter your CURRENT job first. This is the job that you might continue until retirement. For many pensions, the amount of pension credit you earn is prorated for part-time work. Thus, if you work 80% time, you might earn 80% of the normal pension credit for that period of work.

Only enter work periods when you were earning pension credits. For example, if you have worked 40% time and working 40% time does not earn pension credits from your employer, do not include this work period here.

You can enter pension credits (typically "years of service") that you have purchased under B).

  Allow me to enter more periods of work

Years of Service and Salary as of DIVORCE DATE


Expected Years of Service and Salary as of RETIREMENT DATE


Yes No
Yes No
To make changes, simply scroll up and make changes, then press "Calculate now" again.

Calculations for Option A
Name for Method of Dividing Pension Pension calculated using: Monthly Pension Benefit (for Calculating Alternate Payee Benefit) Coverture Ratio (% of benefit that belongs to marriage) Monthly Pension Payment to Pension Participant (half of Marital Portion and 100% of non-marital portion) Monthly Pension Payment to Alternate Payee (this is half of the Marital Portion)
Divorce Date Retirement Date
Calculations for Option C
Name for Method of Dividing Pension Pension calculated using: Monthly Pension Benefit (for Calculating Alternate Payee Benefit) Coverture Ratio (% of benefit that belongs to marriage) Monthly Pension Payment to Pension Participant (half of Marital Portion and 100% of non-marital portion) Monthly Pension Payment to Alternate Payee (this is half of the Marital Portion)
Divorce Date Retirement Date
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