59-1320. APPROVED DOMESTIC RETIREMENT ORDERS — APPLICATION AND EFFECT. (1) The executive director of the public employee retirement system or his designee upon receipt of a copy of a domestic retirement order, shall determine whether the order is an approved domestic retirement order and shall notify the member and the alternate payee of the determination within ninety (90) days. Orders shall be applied prospectively only from the first day of the month following the order being determined to be an approved domestic retirement order. The retirement system shall then pay benefits or establish a segregated account in accordance with the order. When established, the segregated account will consist of accumulated contributions identified in the approved domestic retirement order together with accrued interest on that amount from the effective date to the date of segregation.

(2) If the order is determined not to be an approved domestic retirement order, or if no determination is issued within ninety (90) days, the member or the alternate payee named in the order may move the court which issued the order to amend the order so that it will be approved. The court that issued the order or which would otherwise have jurisdiction over the matter has jurisdiction to amend the order so that it will be qualified even though all other matters incident to the action or proceeding have been fully and finally adjudicated.

(3) The executive director of the retirement system to which a domestic retirement order is submitted or his designee has exclusive authority to determine whether a domestic retirement order is an approved domestic retirement order. If it is determined that a domestic retirement order does not meet the requirements for an approved domestic retirement order, both the issuing court and the parties to the order shall be notified so action may be taken to amend the order.

(4) Because an approved domestic retirement order cannot cause the retirement system to pay any benefit or any amount of benefit greater than would have been paid had the member’s account not been segregated, disputes related to benefits paid under an approved domestic retirement order shall be resolved between the parties to the order by the court issuing that order. The retirement system shall not be made a party to the action. Any cost, including attorney’s fees, incurred by the retirement system as a result of such actions shall be distributed by the court among the parties and included in any amended order issued.

(5) Unless the approved domestic retirement order specifies differently, if the member has a right to a vested benefit as of the effective date of the order, then both the member and the alternate payee shall have a right to a vested benefit after the transfer of months of service even if the member or the alternate payee has less than sixty (60) months of membership service.

(6) For benefits under chapter 13, title 59, Idaho Code, for members other than retired members, if the domestic retirement order awards to the alternate payee a portion of the member’s accumulated contributions the alternate payee shall be entitled to all the same benefits and rights an inactive member has under chapter 13, title 59, Idaho Code. The alternate payee’s benefit calculation for a lifetime annuity shall use the member’s average monthly salary and base period as of the effective date of the order and the months of credited service transferred to the alternate payee’s segregated account. The benefit calculation shall use the alternate payee’s age with the appropriate reduction factors based on the alternate payee’s age at the time of payment of the lifetime annuity. For the purpose of the lifetime annuity, the bridging factor, as specified in section 59-1355, Idaho Code, shall be the bridging factor between the effective date of the order or the last day of contributions by the member prior to the effective date of the order, whichever is earliest, and the date of the first lifetime annuity payment to the alternate payee. The alternate payee shall have the right to select any of the optional retirement allowances provided in section 59-1351, Idaho Code. The alternate payee shall have the right to name a beneficiary.

(7) For benefits defined under chapter 13, title 59, Idaho Code, for retired members, and for benefits under chapter 14, title 72, Idaho Code, the retirement system shall include in the alternate payee’s amount or percentage of the benefit, on a proportional basis, all future adjustments, including postretirement increases that are granted by the retirement system, and any death benefit.

(8) For benefits under chapter 13, title 59, Idaho Code, for retired members, the form of payment previously elected by the member under section 59-1351, Idaho Code, cannot be changed by a domestic retirement order, except that a member’s benefit may be adjusted as provided in section 59-1351(2), Idaho Code, if an alternate payee waives all survivor benefits otherwise payable as a contingent annuitant as provided in section 59-1319(1)(e), Idaho Code. Furthermore, no segregated account will be established by the retirement system for the alternate payee. Upon the death of the alternate payee, his/her percentage of the benefit will revert to the person or persons, including the member, who are entitled to the benefit under the system at the time of the alternate payee’s death.

(9) For benefits defined under chapter 14, title 72, Idaho Code, the benefit transferred to the alternate payee shall start when the retirement system begins paying benefits to the member, surviving spouse, or surviving children of the member. The transferred benefit shall be payable only for the lifetime of the alternate payee and it shall not revert to the member, surviving spouse or surviving children of the member.

(10) The retirement system shall be authorized to issue any and all appropriate tax forms or reports for any payments made to the alternate payee.

(11) The retirement system, the retirement board, and officers and employees of the retirement system shall not be liable to any person for making payments of any benefits in accordance with an approved domestic retirement order.

History:

[59-1320, added 1998, ch. 22, sec. 4, p. 136; am. 1999, ch. 198, sec. 4, p. 516; am. 2004, ch. 328, sec. 2, p. 981; am. 2006, ch. 19, sec. 1, p. 71.]