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Questions to Answer
1.
List all federal retirement benefits that the employee/retiree has
(i.e. Federal Employees’ Retirement System [FERS], Civil Service Retirement
System [CSRS], Thrift Savings Plan [TSP], FERS Savings Plan, etc.)
2.
What document requires the division of these retirement benefits
(i.e. court order/judgment of equitable distribution, consent order,
separation agreement, etc.)? When was this document executed or entered?
WARNING: When the benefits
to be divided are those of an already retired member, the pension division
order MUST be the first order entered dividing any marital
property.
3.
Date of Marriage: _________________________________
4.
Date of Separation: ________________________________
5.
Date of Divorce: __________________________________
6.
Identifying Information for Employee / Retiree
a.
Full name:
_______________________________________________________________
b.
Current mailing address (including county):
_______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
c.
Date of birth: ________________________________
d.
Social Security number: ________________________
e.
Date of hire: _________________________________
f.
If the employee is NOT yet retired and is NOT receiving pension
payments, what is the date the employee / retiree is eligible to
retire: _______________________
g.
If the employee / retiree is NOT currently employed by the federal
government and is NOT receiving pension payments, what is the
date the employee / retiree left service
_____________________________________________________
7.
Identifying information for spouse or former spouse:
a.
Full name: _________________________________________________________
b.
Current mailing address (including county):
_________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
c.
Date of birth: ________________________________
d.
Social Security number: ________________________
8.
Computational Information
a.
How
is the employee annuity to be divided?
i.
Set dollar amount [i.e., “$400 a month to Mrs.
Brown”]
ii.
Percentage [i.e., “44% of Mr. Brown=s
retired pay”]
iii.
Marital Covertures Fraction [i.e., “half of the
marital fraction of Mr. Brown’s retired pay, said
fraction
being defined as 22 years of marital pension service divided by X years of
total pension service”]
iv.
Prorata Share1
9. Do
you want the order to address cost-of-living adjustments?
10. What
should happen to the non-employee spouse’s share of the retirement annuity
after the death of the non-employee spouse (i.e. revert to retiree, pay to
estate of former spouse, pay to children of the marriage?)
11. Are
former spouse survivor benefits to be provided? (Note: entitlement to a
former spouse survivor annuity terminates upon the remarriage of the former
spouse before age 55. In addition, a former spouse is not entitled to a
CSRS survivor annuity if the member is not an active employee or
retiree receiving annuity payments at the time of his/her death)
12. Have
survivor benefits been previously waived? (If so, no former spouse survivor
benefits are available)
13. What
share of the former spouse survivor annuity should the former spouse get
(i.e., maximum survivor annuity, percentage of survivor annuity, prorata
share of survivor annuity, an amount equal to a percentage or formula-based
share of the employee annuity, etc.)
14. How
is the cost of the former spouse survivor annuity to be paid (shared equally
or paid out of former spouse’s share of employee annuity)?
15.
If the employee leaves federal service before retirement and applies
for a refund of employee contributions, what should happen to those
contributions (i.e. spouse gets a share [if so, what share?], employee
prohibited from withdrawing contributions, etc.)?
16.
Is the TSP to be divided? If so, how (fixed dollar amount,
percentage, formula)? Are interest and earnings to be included?
17. Will
the non-employee spouse’s share of the TSP be paid directly to the former
spouse or rolled over into an eligible plan
(i.e. IRA)? If into an eligible plan, give name, address, and account
number of plan.
18.
If the former spouse is eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits
(FEHB), is the order to address FEHB for the former spouse? (Note: to be
eligible for FEHB, a former spouse (i) must have been covered as a family
member under the employee’s or annuitant’s enrollment at some time during
the 18 months prior to divorce, (ii) must be entitled to a share of the
employee annuity and/or a survivor annuity pursuant to a qualifying order,
(iii) must not have remarried before age 55, and (iv) the former spouse must
apply for enrollment within 60 days of the date of divorce or notification
by OPM of eligibility to enroll based on a qualifying order awarding the
former spouse a portion of the employee annuity or a former spouse annuity,
whichever is later).
19.
If so, has the former spouse been covered as a family member under an
FEHB enrollment at least one day during the 18 months before the marriage
ended?
20.
Has the former spouse remarried before age 55?
21.
Is the former spouse currently covered under Temporary Continuation
Coverage (TCC)? (Note: if the intent is to provide the former spouse
with FEHB, it is advisable for the employee/retiree to maintain coverage for
the former spouse until divorce, and then have the former spouse elect TCC
upon divorce to avoid a lapse in coverage while the FEHB application is
being processed.)
22.
Is the order to provide that the former spouse is to be the
designated beneficiary of the insured’s Federal Employees’ Group Life
Insurance (FEGLI) benefits and/or to provide for an assignment of the
insured’s FEGLI benefits? (Note: An order requiring that former spouse be
named beneficiary does not prevent the insured from canceling coverage. In
addition, a court order can require that the insured irrevocably assign the
FEGLI, but the court order alone is not sufficient to accomplish this. The
insured must complete an irrevocable assignment form for an
assignment to be effective.)
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Documents Needed (check off documents you’ve attached)
-
The separation agreement or court order requiring
division of the retirement benefits
- Completed questionnaire
-
Copy of
most recent retired pay stub, if receiving pension payments
1
Note: “prorata share” is defined as “one-half of the fraction whose
numerator is the number of months of Federal civilian and military
service preformed during the marriage and whose denominator is the
total number of months of Federal civilian military service
performed by the employee.” Unless otherwise specified in the
order, for computation purposes, OPM treats the marriage as ending
on the date the order is filed with the clerk.
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