| (a) A member eligible for retirement must certify to
the current marital status of the member on any withdrawal or retirement
application filed with the system.
(1) A member eligible for retirement who is married
may not select a form of payment of a retirement benefit other than
as a qualified joint-and-survivor annuity unless the member's spouse
consents to the selection.
(2) A member eligible for retirement who is married
may not withdraw from membership and receive a refund unless the member's
spouse consents to the refund.
(3) A member who is unmarried may designate any beneficiary
and select any form of payment of a retirement benefit permitted under
the Act.
(b) The consent required by subsection (a) of this
section is not required if it is established to the satisfaction of
the system that:
(1) there is no spouse;
(2) the spouse cannot be located;
(3) the spouse has been judicially declared incompetent
in which case the consent may be given by the guardian or other ad
litem;
(4) a duly licensed physician has determined that the
spouse is not mentally capable of managing his or her own affairs
and the director is satisfied that a guardianship of the estate is
not necessary;
(5) the spouse and the member will have been married
for less than one year as of the date the member files a valid application
for a refund of the member's accumulated deposits, or as of the effective
retirement date designated by the member on the member's valid application
for retirement; or
(6) no service performed by the member as an employee
of a participating subdivision and credited in the system was performed
during the marriage of the member and the spouse.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the term "qualified
joint-and survivor annuity" means a retirement annuity for the life
of the member with a survivor annuity for the life of the member's
spouse which is not less than 50% of the amount of the annuity which
is payable during the joint lives of the member and spouse.
(d) An unrevoked beneficiary designation on file with
the system as of December 31, 1999, or filed thereafter remains valid
until revoked by the member, or, if the member's spouse is a designated
beneficiary, until the member and the spouse become divorced.
(e) The system and employees of the system may rely
upon the certification of the member filed under this section, and
are not liable to any person for making payments of any benefits in
accordance with the certification even though the certification is
later shown to have been untrue on the date of execution.
|
| Source Note: The provisions of this §103.3 adopted to be effective August 28, 1989, 14 TexReg 3352; amended to be effective January 10, 1996, 21 TexReg 134; amended to be effective December 31, 1999, 24 TexReg 9301; amended to be effective March 27, 2007, 32 TexReg 1749; amended to be effective July 26, 2012, 37 TexReg 5488 |
