Alaska Administrative Code › Title 2 - Administration › Chapter 38 - Employment-Related Benefits for Same-Sex Partners of State Retirees Under the State's Retirement Systems › 2 AAC 38.070 - Same-sex partner survivor benefits for a member of a state retirement system who retired before January 1, 2016

Current through May 31, 2024
(a) Survivor
			 benefits for a member of a state retirement system who retired before January
			 1, 2016 and made an irrevocable designation of a same-sex partner to receive
			 survivor benefits are payable to a same-sex partner designated to the extent
			 the benefits are not payable to a former spouse under the terms of a qualified
			 domestic relations order. A designation by the member of a state retirement
			 system of a same-sex partner to receive survivor benefits must meet the
			 requirements of this section.
(b) A
			 designation made before January 1, 2016 of a same-sex partner to receive
			 survivor benefits that may be paid to a person other than a spouse under
			 applicable statute is valid to the same extent the designation of any other
			 non-spouse beneficiary is valid under the statute.
(c) A designation made before January 1, 2016
			 by a member of a state retirement system of a same-sex partner as beneficiary
			 to receive survivor benefits that are available to a surviving spouse under
			 AS
			 14.25.155,
			 14.25.157,
			 14.25.160,
			 14.25.162,
			 14.25.164,
			 14.25.167,
			 14.25.420,
			 14.25.485,
			 14.25.487;
			 AS
			 22.25.030;
			 AS39.35.420,
			 39.35.430,
			 39.35.440,
			 39.35.450,
			 39.35.890,
			 39.35.892; or former AS 39.37.060
			 is not valid unless the member files with the administrator
(1) with the designation of beneficiary an
			 affidavit executed by the member and the same-sex partner declaring under
			 penalty of perjury that they
(A) are at least
			 18 years of age and are each competent to enter into a contract;
(B) have been in an exclusive, committed, and
			 intimate relationship with each other for 12 consecutive months before the
			 member's retirement effective date and intend to continue that relationship
			 indefinitely ;
(C) have resided
			 together at a common primary residence for 12 consecutive months before the
			 member's retirement effective date and intend to reside together indefinitely;
(D) consider themselves to be
			 members of each other's immediate family;
(E) are not related to each other to a degree
			 of closeness that would preclude them from marrying each other in this state if
			 they were of the opposite sex from each other;
(F) are neither one of them legally married
			 to anyone else;
(G) have not
			 executed an affidavit affirming same-sex partner status with anyone else within
			 12 months before the member's retirement effective date;
(H) are each other's sole domestic partner
			 and are each responsible for the common welfare of the other;
(I) share financial obligations, including
			 joint responsibility for basic living expenses and health care costs;
(J) understand that, under applicable federal
			 income tax law, payments for medical coverage of a same-sex partner or child of
			 a same-sex partner may not be eligible for pre-tax treatment, and coverage of a
			 same-sex partner may result in additional imputed taxable income to the covered
			 retirement system member, or survivor and related withholding for pension and
			 annuity taxes; and
(K) understand
			 that, in addition to requirments of this section, there are terms and
			 conditions of coverage set out in the state plan of self-insurance for
			 retirees; and