121.— (1) In this section and sections 122 to 126 —

“Act of 1990” means the Pensions Act 1990;

“active member” in relation to a scheme, means a member of the scheme who is in reckonable service;

“actuarial value” means the equivalent cash value of a benefit (including, where appropriate, provision for any revaluation of the benefit) under a scheme calculated by reference to appropriate financial assumptions and making due allowance for the probability of survival to normal pensionable age and beyond in accordance with normal life expectancy on the assumption that the member, at the effective date of calculation, is in a normal state of health having regard to his or her age;

“approved arrangement”, in relation to the trustees of a scheme, means an arrangement whereby the trustees, on behalf of the person for whom the arrangement is made, effect policies or contracts of insurance that are approved of by the Revenue Commissioners with, and make the appropriate payments under the policies or contracts to, one or more undertakings;

“contingent benefit” means a benefit payable under a scheme, other than a payment under section 123 (4), to or for the benefit of the surviving civil partner, any dependants of the member civil partner or the personal representative of the member civil partner, if the member civil partner dies while in relevant employment and before attaining any normal pensionable age provided for under the rules of the scheme;

“defined contribution scheme” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(1) (as amended by section 29(1)(a)(ii) of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2008) of the Act of 1990;

“designated benefit” in relation to a pension adjustment order, means an amount determined by the trustees of a scheme, in accordance with relevant guidelines and by reference to the period and the percentage of the retirement benefit specified in an order under subsection (2);

“member civil partner” in relation to a scheme, means a civil partner who is a member of the scheme;

“normal pensionable age” means the earliest age at which a member of a scheme is entitled to receive benefits under the rules of the scheme on retirement from relevant employment, disregarding any rules providing for early retirement on grounds of ill health or otherwise;

“occupational pension scheme” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(1) of the Act of 1990;

“reckonable service” means service in relevant employment during membership in any scheme;

“relevant guidelines” means any relevant guidelines for the time being in force under section 10(1)(c) or (cc) (as amended by section 5 of the Pensions (Amendment) Act 1996, section 47(c) of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996, section 13(b) of the Pensions (Amendment) Act 2002 and section 37 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007) of the Act of 1990;

“relevant employment” in relation to a scheme, means any employment, or any period treated as employment, or any period of self-employment to which a scheme applies;

“retirement benefit”, in relation to a scheme, means all benefits, other than contingent benefits, payable under the scheme;

“rules”, in relation to a scheme, means the provisions of the scheme by whatever name called;

“scheme” means a pension scheme;

“transfer amount” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (4);

“undertaking” has the same meaning as “‘insurance undertaking’ or ‘undertaking’ ” in section 2(1) (as inserted by section 3(1) of the Insurance Act 2000) of the Insurance Act 1989.

F49[(2) On granting a decree of dissolution or at any other time after it is granted, the court, on application to it in that behalf by either of the civil partners or by a person on behalf of a dependent child of the civil partners, may during the lifetime of a member civil partner, make an order providing for the payment, in accordance with this section and sections 122 to 126, to—

(a) the other civil partner, or

(b) a person specified in the order for the benefit of a dependent child of the civil partners for so long as that child remains a dependent child of the civil partners,

of a benefit consisting of the part of the benefit that is payable (or that, but for the making of the decree, would have been payable) under the scheme and has accrued at the time of the making of the decree, or of the part of that part that the court considers appropriate.]

(3) The order under subsection (2) shall specify—

(a) the period of reckonable service of the member civil partner prior to the granting of the decree to be taken into account, and

(b) the percentage of the retirement benefit accrued during the period to be paid to F49[the other civil partner or to the person on behalf of the dependent child of the civil partners, as the case may be].

(4) Where the court makes an order under subsection (2) in favour of a civil partner and payment of the designated benefit concerned has not commenced, the civil partner is entitled to the application in accordance with section 123(1) of an amount of money from the scheme (in this subsection referred to as a “transfer amount”) equal to the value of the designated benefit as determined by the trustees of the scheme in accordance with relevant guidelines.

F49[(5) On granting a decree of dissolution or at any time within one year after it is granted, the court, on application to it in that behalf by either of the civil partners or by a person on behalf of a dependent child of the civil partners, may make an order providing for the payment, on the death of the member civil partner, to—

(a) the other civil partner, or

(b) a person specified in the order for the benefit of a dependent child of the civil partners,

of that part of a contingent benefit that is payable (or that, but for the making of the decree, would have been payable) under the scheme, or of the part of that part, that the court considers appropriate.]

(6) The court shall not make an order under this section in favour of a civil partner who has registered in a new civil partnership or has married.

(7) The court may make an order under this section in addition to or in substitution in whole or in part for an order under section 117, 118, 119 or 120 and, in deciding whether or not to make a pension adjustment order, the court shall have regard to the question whether proper provision, having regard to the circumstances, exists or can be made for the civil partner who is not a F49[member or for a dependent child of the civil partners concerned under] those sections.

(8) An order under this section may restrict to a specified extent or exclude the application of section 131 in relation to the order.