Pension present value estimates for divorce.

A present value estimate rests on assumptions, and the assumptions do most of the work. The main ones:

• Assumed retirement age. When the benefit is assumed to begin changes how the future stream is valued today.
• Discount rate. The rate used to express future payments in today's dollars. A different rate produces a different figure.
• Mortality table. The assumed life expectancy used to estimate how long payments continue.
• Cost-of-living adjustment. Whether the estimate assumes the benefit increases over time.
• Survivor coverage. Whether the estimate assumes payments continue to a survivor, and at what level.

Two qualified professionals can each produce a defensible estimate that differs from the other because each applied different assumptions. The spread between estimates usually comes from the assumptions, not from arithmetic. That is why the assumptions behind an estimate matter as much as the dollar figure itself.

An estimate is a planning figure, not a promise. It does not guarantee what the pension will ultimately pay, and it is not a number the plan will honor as a cash-out. Future events the estimate cannot know with certainty, including actual retirement timing, actual longevity, and plan changes, can move the real-world outcome away from the estimate.

Because the figure depends on assumptions, it is only an estimate for settlement purposes.

TOVA prepares present value estimates for settlement purposes only. The estimate lists the assumptions it uses.

TOVA does not testify on present value. Present value estimates are advisory. If a case needs expert testimony on the pension's present value at trial, counsel should retain a forensic actuary or actuarial-economist expert for that role. TOVA hands off cleanly with its work product to whoever counsel retains.

• We do not make strategic litigation decisions.
• We do not guarantee what a pension will ultimately pay. A present value estimate is an assumption-based planning figure.
• We do not testify on present value. PV estimates are advisory; for PV testimony at trial, retain a forensic actuary or actuarial-economist expert.

• If the participant has not retired: a pension statement showing the accrued benefit, meaning the pension earned so far.
• The plan's benefit formula or summary plan description, if available.
• The participant's date of birth, date of hire, and date of marriage.
• The cutoff date and the expected retirement date, if known.
• Whether survivor coverage and a cost-of-living adjustment should be assumed.

The wording to use with the plan: "a statement of accrued pension benefit, as of the date of cutoff (or as close to the cutoff date as the Plan will provide), payable at the Plan's definition of normal retirement age."

What to ask each plan for

• NYSLRS: the benefit-information letter with a hypothetical benefit as of the cutoff.
• NYC Police Pension Fund: Form 920, "Request for a Pension Valuation in a Matrimonial Action." The Fund gives only one per matrimonial proceeding, so get the cutoff date right before the form goes in. Allow 6 to 8 weeks.
• Colorado PERA: the Annual Member Statement plus the portal "Salary and Earned Service Credit Information" pages. Never ask PERA for an accrued benefit letter as of a date. PERA does not produce one and will not compute a present value.

Plans change their forms, so confirm the current form with the plan before the request goes out.

A judgment and an account-balance statement are not required for a pension value estimate. If the participant is already retired, tell us in the request so we can confirm the benefit records needed.

PV is $700 flat at TOVA once we receive the requested pension documents. TOVA does not prepare present value estimates for federal (FERS, CSRS) or military pensions. See pricing.