Opinion ID: 2331477
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: rights of beneficiary

Text: ¶ 15 Mr. Thompson's wife, Paula R. Thompson, repeatedly sought participation in the administrative proceedings regarding forfeiture of Mr. Thompson's retirement benefits, and at each step was denied participation. She claims her due process rights were denied. She further claims that she has a vested property right because the pension benefits are an asset of her marriage to Mr. Thompson, and she asserts that all of the vested pension benefits were accrued during their marriage. Mrs. Thompson supports her argument by citing divorce cases. Those holdings are not applicable to the essential issue now before us, and that is whether a wife, such as Mrs. Thompson who was married to Mr. Thompson at the time of the forfeiture hearing, has a vested right to her spouse's retirement benefits when those benefits have been forfeited by operation of law. ¶ 16 OPERS argues that she is a surviving spouse beneficiary to one who has no current rights to his pension benefits. Determining whether an individual has been denied procedural due process is a two-step inquiry. First, we determine whether the individual possesses a protected interest to which due process protection applies, and if so, whether the individual was afforded an appropriate level of process. In re A.M., 2000 OK 82, ¶ 7, 13 P.3d 484, 487. ¶ 17 The statutes governing the Uniform Retirement System for Justices and Judges are found within title 20, Chapter 16. Section 1102C provides options for payment of benefits to a spouse. Subsection A reveals those benefits are available to a spouse or surviving spouse. In Woods v. City of Lawton, 1992 OK 167, 845 P.2d 880, the Court held that membership in any pension or retirement system of the state, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, with the rights being defined by the limits of the contract, which may provide that vesting is subject to contingencies that can cause a forfeiture. Woods, 1992 OK 167, ¶ 12, 845 P.2d at 883. Accordingly, contingencies provided by statute, more specifically, § 24.1 of Title 51, can provide that a violation of a state officer's oath of office results in a forfeiture of retirement benefits, in which case the officer would no longer have a vested interest in those benefits. If the officer has no vested interest in the benefits, neither does the spouse. Because this spouse has no protected interest, due process protection does not apply. The agency and the district court did not err in denying Mrs. Thompson's participation as a party in the forfeiture proceedings against Mr. Thompson.