If I have to give my spouse half of my retirement after a divorce, should I still go forward or just ride it out?
Great question, but not for the reasons you may think.
Remember this first: just because you do not file for divorce does not mean you will prevent a divorce from occurring; your spouse can file for divorce and obtain a divorce whether you “agree” to it or not. This is what “no-fault divorce” is.
“No-fault divorce” does not mean that “you can’t divorce if I’ve committed no fault.” No. What no-fault divorce really means is that one who files for divorce is not required to find fault or ascribe fault to his/her spouse as grounds for divorce.
Otherwise stated, even if your spouse is perfect in every way and done nothing wrong, you can file for divorce against your spouse anyway; no fault need be ascribed to your spouse to get a divorce from your spouse.
So, as you can see: if you think that “I’ll hang on to all of my retirement funds/benefits, as long as I don’t file for divorce,” that is not true. You can’t just “ride it out” and keep control of all of your retirement funds/benefits. The reason why is that your spouse could file for divorce against your will and seek (almost surely get), in the absence of exceptional circumstances, half of all retirement funds/benefits acquired or accrued during the marriage.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277