Texas Administrative Code › Title 34 - PUBLIC FINANCE › Part 6 - TEXAS MUNICIPAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM › Chapter 129 - DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDERS › Section 129.12 - Payments to Alternate Payees

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(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.