Ex-Spouse Requests Half of National Pension 24 Years After Divorce... What Did the Court Decide?

Actual Period of Marital Cohabitation Was Less Than Five Years
Court: "No Grounds to Conclude the Marriage Was Maintained"

The court has ruled that even if the marriage period on the marriage registration is five years or longer, the divorced spouse is not entitled to receive a portion of the National Pension payments if the actual period the couple lived together as husband and wife is less than five years.

On August 17, the Third Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Ho Seong-ho) recently ruled in favor of Mr. A in a lawsuit against the National Pension Service to revoke the refusal to change the pension payment amount. The ruling has been finalized, as neither the National Pension Service nor the former spouse filed an appeal.

Mr. A joined the National Pension Service in 1989 and has been receiving an old-age pension since 2018. He married Ms. B in 1992, divorced by mutual consent in February 2000, and in 2024, Ms. B filed a claim for a division of Mr. A's old-age pension.

General Consultation Office at Seoul Northern Regional Headquarters of the National Pension Service. The photo is not directly related to the content of the article. Photo by Yonhap News.

The National Pension Service determined that the couple’s period of marriage was approximately 6 years and 11 months, or 83 months, and decided to pay Ms. B 50% of the portion of Mr. A’s pension corresponding to that period.

The National Pension Act allows a divorced spouse to receive a portion of the ex-spouse’s old-age pension if certain conditions are met. Generally, the period of marriage during the spouse’s National Pension subscription must be five years or longer, and periods during which there was no actual marital relationship—such as due to separation or abandonment—are excluded from the marriage period.

Mr. A objected, claiming that the period during which the actual marital relationship was maintained was less than five years. Although the National Pension Review Committee excluded part of the separation period and adjusted the marriage period to approximately 80 months, Mr. A was not satisfied and filed an administrative lawsuit.

The court found that “there was no substantial marital relationship from March 1996 until the divorce by mutual consent in February 2000,” concluding that Ms. B’s actual marital period did not reach five years. At that time, both Mr. A and Ms. B were administratively removed from the resident registration and moved to different addresses; there was no evidence that they lived together at the same address after that.

Additionally, after the separation, Mr. A raised the child, and there was no record of Ms. B providing any child support. Although Ms. B did send clothing and daily necessities for the child via Mr. A’s mother-in-law, the court ruled that this did not constitute maintenance of a substantial marital relationship. The court concluded that Ms. B is not entitled to a divided pension and ordered the National Pension Service to cancel its previous payment decision.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.