(a) In the event that the participant terminates membership
in the system and applies for a refund of the participant's accumulated
deposits and interest, the system will make a lump-sum payment to
the alternate payee if the domestic relations order so provides and
the order has been determined to be a qualified domestic relations
order.
(b) In the event that the participant (or the participant's
designated beneficiary or estate) begins receiving an annuity after
the date that a qualified domestic relations order is received by
the system, and the order provides for a division of the annuity in
that event, the payment to the alternate payee will be a monthly allowance
payable during the lifetime of the alternate payee, which payment
is the actuarial equivalent of the portion of the participant's benefit
that was awarded to the alternate payee under the domestic relations
order. For the period from the January 22, 2001, original initial
effective date of §123.17 of this title (relating to Actuarial
Tables) through December 31, 2014, the mortality assumption for alternate
payees for determining the payment to the alternate payee shall be
the same as the mortality assumption for the beneficiaries as set
forth in §123.17(a) of this title with regard to service retirements
and as set forth in §123.17(b) of this title with regard to disability
retirements. Effective beginning January 1, 2015, the mortality assumption
for alternate payees for determining the payment to the alternate
payee shall be the same as the mortality assumption for the beneficiaries
as set forth in §123.17(c) of this title with regard to service
retirements and with regard to disability retirements and shall take
into account the applicable phase in period, if any, that may be adopted
by the board pursuant to §123.17(d) of this title.
(c) Subsection (b) of this section will apply to all
domestic relations orders approved in accordance with this chapter
after September 9, 1989, and to such domestic relations orders approved
prior to that date as are construed to provide for such an annuity.
(d) In the event that the total reserves upon which
an annuity (otherwise payable to an alternate payee under a qualified
domestic relations order) would be calculated are $10,000 or less,
then the system is authorized to make a single lump-sum payment to
the alternate payee in the amount of those reserves instead of paying
an annuity to the alternate payee. No such payment shall be made by
the system until such point in time as the system begins paying an
annuity to the participant or the participant's designated beneficiary,
surviving spouse, or estate.
(e) The suspension of a disability retirement benefit
under the Act does not suspend payment of a benefit to an alternate
payee under a qualified domestic relations order.
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