HOW IS A RETIREMENT PENSION SPLIT IN DIVORCE?

It varies on the state and situation. Your best bet is to call the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and ask.

I certainly know what you are talking about, but here's the problem. The only thing courts will usually watch over are the issues regarding minor children - everything else they want to decide right there and then - to put the matter at an end. But how a court can do that in your situation is beyond me. You might decide to work more years - he might decide the same. God forbid, but something could happen to either of you forcing retirement prior to the planned date. I can say this - NO court is going to even consider what he does regarding the children - that's strictly his business - the court won't even deal with that. If I was in your shoes I'd ask any divorce attorney BEFORE I hired them if they had ever handled a case like yours. Call them and ask for a FREE 30-minute consultation and go ask that question first, and be looking them square in the eyes when you do. It seems to me that a 50-50 split would be reasonable - where each of you gave the other 1/2 of your retirement. But would that really be fair if you decided to stay on for another 15 years and he never got 1/2 of yours? And unless you hated your job - why not do that and have a full-time income plus 1/2 of his retirement while increasing your own. I'm not saying you'd do that - but I think you can see where someone might do that. My guess is your situation isn't all that unusual and a good attorney will know how to handle it. But I damned sure would want to find out if they had handle such a case before. Good luck.