Wife should seek alimony, survivor benefit

QMy husband and I are in the process of divorcing. At 65, he is 10 years older than me and going to be retiring in the next year. He has been a federal employee for our 30-year marriage and has a pension. We are not going to value the pension, but instead just do an order to give me half.

Because of his quickly approaching retirement and my ability to work another 10 years, I am not going to get alimony. I make half what he does, so things are going to be really tight even when he retires and I start to get half of his pension.

I am concerned that his health has not been great, which is why he will be retiring. As I understand it, when he dies, the pension goes away. What can I do to protect my future?

AYou have a few options. First, make sure you get alimony for as long as he is working. Just because he is approaching retirement does not mean you have to waive alimony.

Second, ask for a larger share of the marital assets because you will only receive alimony for a year despite the long-term nature of your marriage. You have not given me any facts that make me think a deviation from the durational limit is an option, but you should talk with an experienced family law attorney to be sure.

Finally, if his death is truly a concern for you, you need to consider the survivor benefit available in the pension. If your husband elects the survivor benefit, you will continue to receive pension benefits upon his death, albeit at a lower amount. He likely will not want to elect this benefit because it will reduce the current payout as well. But the alternative is for you to be left with zero upon his death. Given your age and tight budget, that is clearly the worse scenario for you.

You should also explore whether his life insurance policies, which are likely part of his federal employee benefit package, are portable, meaning he can keep them after he retires. He will argue if he has an alimony obligation, he should not have a life insurance obligation. But if you cannot make ends meet, a judge would probably have sympathy given the length of the marriage and the short time you will receive alimony.

If the judge won’t order him to keep the insurance and he won’t agree, you need to assess the risk. If you truly think his time is limited, figure out how to pay the premium yourself and ask that ownership of the policy be transferred to you. Then, when he departs, you will have the means to retire worryfree. Wendy O. Hickey has since 1994 been involved in and since 2003 been a trial lawyer who concentrates her practice on national and international family law. Any legal advice in this column is general in nature, and does not establish a lawyer-client relationship. Send questions to dearwendy@boston herald.com.