(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 § 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.

Terms Used In California Government Code 21290

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • 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. See California Government Code 21291
  • Person: includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company. See California Government Code 17
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18

(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.

(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 21, Sec. 11. Effective June 25, 2001. Applicable from January 1, 2000, by Sec. 37 of Ch. 21.)