SECTIONS 21290-21298 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 21290-21298

21290. (a) Upon the legal separation or dissolution of marriage of
a member, the court shall include in the judgment or a court order
the date on which the parties separated.
(b) If the community property is divided in accordance with
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 2610 of the Family Code,
the court shall order that the accumulated contributions and service
credit attributable to periods of service during the marriage be
divided into two separate and distinct accounts in the name of the
member and the nonmember, respectively. Any service credit or
accumulated contributions that are not explicitly awarded by the
judgment or court order shall be deemed the exclusive property of the
member.
(c) The court shall address the rights of the nonmember to the
following:
(1) The right to a retirement allowance, and the consequent right
to elect an optional settlement and designate a beneficiary.
(2) The right to a refund of accumulated contributions.
(3) The right to redeposit accumulated contributions that are
eligible for redeposit by the member under Sections 20750 and 20752.
(4) The right to purchase service credit that is eligible for
purchase by the member under Article 4 (commencing with Section
20990) and Article 5 (commencing with Section 21020) of Chapter 11.
(5) The right to designate a beneficiary to receive his or her
accumulated contributions payable where death occurs prior to
retirement.
(6) The right to designate a beneficiary for any unpaid allowance
payable at the time of the nonmember's death.
(7) The right to elect coverage in the Second Tier for that member
service that is subject to the Second Tier, provided that the
election is made within one year of the establishment of the
nonmember account or prior to the nonmember's retirement, whichever
occurs first. Immediately upon establishment of a nonmember account,
the board shall provide, by certified mail, the necessary form and
information so that the election may be made.
(d) In the capacity of nonmember, he or she shall not be entitled
to any disability or industrial disability retirement allowance, any
basic death benefit, any special death benefit, any monthly allowance
for survivors of a member or retired person, any insurance benefit,
or retired member lump-sum death benefit. No survivor continuance
allowance shall be payable to a survivor of a nonmember.
(e) (1) A nonmember whose account is credited with service subject
to the Second Tier benefits provided in Section 21076 or 21077 may
make an irrevocable election, to be filed with the board, to have his
or her Second Tier service credited under Section 21354.1, if the
following conditions are met:
(A) The member is employed by the state on or after January 1,
2000.
(B) If eligible, the member has made the election provided in
subdivision (a) of Section 21073.7 at the time of the nonmember's
election.
(2) An election under this subdivision shall be effective the
first of the month following the date the election is received by the
system. An election under this subdivision may be made at any time
prior to the retirement of the nonmember or prior to payment of a
refund of the accumulated contributions in the separate account of
the nonmember. A nonmember who makes the election under this
subdivision shall make the contributions specified in Section
21073.1.
(3) The term "member" as used in this subdivision means the person
from whose account the Second Tier service that is credited to the
separate account of the nonmember was derived.

21291. "Nonmember," as used in this article, means the spouse or
former spouse of a member, who as a result of petitioning the court
for the division of community property, has been awarded a distinct
and separate account reflecting specific credited service and
accumulated contributions.

21291.5. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, a
spouse or registered domestic partner who is not an alternate payee,
as defined in Section 414(p)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code (26
U.S.C. Sec. 401 et seq.) shall not receive a distribution until the
member separates from employment.

21292. (a) The nonmember who is awarded a separate account shall
have the right to a refund of the accumulated contributions in the
separate account of the nonmember.
(b) The nonmember shall file an application on a form provided by
this system to obtain the refund.
(c) The refund shall be effective when this system deposits in the
United States mail an initial warrant drawn in favor of the
nonmember and addressed to the latest address for the nonmember on
file with this system.
(d) The nonmember is deemed to have permanently waived all rights
in this system and all rights to any future retirement benefits
pertaining to the service credit accumulated contributions, or both,
when the refund becomes effective.
(e) The nonmember may not cancel a refund once it has become
effective.
(f) The nonmember shall have no right to elect to redeposit the
refunded accumulated contributions from the nonmember's account after
the refund is effective, and shall have no right to redeposit under
Section 20750 or 20752 , or to purchase service credit under Article
4 (commencing with Section 20990) or Article 5 (commencing with
Section 21020) of Chapter 11 after the refund becomes effective.
(g) If at the time of the marriage dissolution or legal
separation, the member does not have the necessary minimum credited
service to retire, the nonmember shall receive a refund of the
accumulated contributions placed in the nonmember's account.

21293. (a) The nonmember who is awarded a separate account may
redeposit accumulated contributions previously refunded to the member
in accordance with the determination of the court required by
Section 21290.
(b) The nonmember may redeposit only those accumulated
contributions that were previously refunded to the member and that
the court has determined to be the community property interest of the
nonmember in the accumulated contributions.
(c) If the nonmember elects to redeposit, he or she shall repay
the accumulated contributions pursuant to Section 20750 or Section
20752.
(d) An election to redeposit shall be considered an election to
repay all accumulated contributions previously refunded that the
nonmember is entitled to redeposit.
(e) The right of the nonmember to redeposit is subject to the
regulations of the board.
(f) The member has no right to redeposit the share of the
nonmember in the previously refunded accumulated contributions unless
the nonmember has permanently waived all rights in the system by
effecting a refund of accumulated contributions pursuant to Section
21292. However, any right to redeposit previously refunded
accumulated contributions not explicitly awarded to the nonmember by
the judgment or court order shall be deemed the exclusive property of
the member.
(g) If the nonmember elected to redeposit upon retirement and has
subsequently died, prior to completing the redeposit, the board
shall file a claim against the estate of the decedent to recover
benefit payments that exceeded those for which payment was made.

21294. (a) The nonmember shall have the right to purchase service
credit pursuant to the determination of the court required by Section
21290.
(b) The nonmember may purchase only that service credit that the
court, pursuant to Section 21290 has determined to be the community
property interest of the nonmember spouse.
(c) If the nonmember elects to purchase service credit, he or she
shall pay, prior to retirement, the contributions and interest
required by Article 4 (commencing with Section 20990) and Article 5
(commencing with Section 21020) of Chapter 11 and pursuant to the
regulations of the board.
(d) The nonmember shall have no right to purchase the service
credit after the effective date of a refund of the accumulated
contributions in the separate account of the nonmember.
(e) The member has no right to purchase the community property
interest of the nonmember of the service credit unless the nonmember
has permanently waived all rights in the system by effecting a refund
of accumulated contributions pursuant to Section 21292. However, any
service credit eligible for purchase that is not explicitly awarded
to the nonmember by the judgment or court order shall be deemed the
exclusive property of the member.
(f) If the nonmember elected to purchase service credits upon
retirement and has subsequently died, prior to completing the
purchase, the board shall file a claim against the estate of the
deceased to recover benefit payments that exceeded those for which
payment was made.

21295. A nonmember shall be retired upon his or her written
application to the board if all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The nonmember has attained the minimum age prescribed by the
applicable service retirement formula of the member.
(b) On the date of marriage dissolution or legal separation, the
member had sufficient credited service to retire for service.
(c) On the date of application, the member has attained minimum
retirement age to receive a service retirement allowance.

21296. Retirement shall be effective and the retirement allowance
shall begin to accrue as of the date designated in the nonmember's
application as the effective date of retirement, or the day following
the date of court order dividing the community property of the
member and nonmember, if later. If the retirement application is not
received within nine months of the requested effective date, in no
event shall the retirement become effective or the retirement
allowance begin to accrue earlier than the first day of the month in
which the nonmember's application is received at an office of the
board or by an employee of this system designated by the board, or,
if the nonmember has been incompetent to act on his or her own behalf
continuously from the date of dissolution or legal separation, one
year prior to the month in which an application by the guardian of
his or her estate is so received. An application for retirement may
only be filed by or for a nonmember who is living on the date the
application is actually received by this system. The effective date
of a nonmember application for retirement received more than nine
months after the requested effective date shall be determined in
accordance with Section 20160.

21297. For a nonmember, "final compensation" means the highest
average annual compensation earnable by the member during the three
consecutive years, or one year where applicable, prior to the date of
dissolution of marriage or legal separation. The nonmember may
designate an earlier period to be used where the time period of the
nonmember's marriage to the member and membership correspond.

21298. (a) A nonmember entitled to receive a retirement allowance
shall receive a retirement allowance based on the service retirement
formula applicable to the service credited to the nonmember.
(b) The retirement allowance shall consist of a pension and an
annuity, the latter of which shall be derived from the nonmember's
accumulated contributions. The nonmember's retirement allowance,
based upon the service credited by the employer and the nonmember's
effective date of retirement, shall be subject to all cost-of-living
increases, ad hoc increases, and increases provided by Section 21337
or 21337.1.
(c) If, prior to the nonmember's retirement, there is any increase
in the service retirement formula that applies to service credited
to the nonmember, that increase shall apply to the applicable service
credited to the nonmember, provided that the same increase also
applies to the applicable service credited to the member from whose
account the nonmember's service was derived.