(a) A retired member, in order to provide for his or her domestic partner, shall be entitled to elect or change any optional retirement allowance pursuant to this article, if all of the following criteria are satisfied:
(1) The member retired on or before January 1, 2006.
(2) At retirement, the member elected an unmodified retirement allowance or one of the optional settlements specified in this article naming his or her domestic partner as beneficiary.
(3) At the time of election under this section, the retired member and domestic partner are registered as domestic partners with the Secretary of State, and provide a copy of their Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership to the retirement system.
(4) The retired member and domestic partner sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury stating that at least one year prior to the member’s service retirement effective date or at the disability retirement date the member and partner would have qualified to be registered as domestic partners pursuant to Section 297 of the Family Code.
(b) The retirement system has no obligation to locate or otherwise contact retired members who may qualify for allowances under the terms of this section.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, if a retired member elects to change his or her retirement election pursuant to this section, the member’s allowance shall be adjusted prospectively only. The adjusted retirement allowance shall be effective on the first day of the month following receipt of the member’s signed election. The member shall not be eligible to recover payment retroactively for any period between his or her retirement effective date and the date of election under this section.
(d) This section does not apply to members who are required to provide a continuing benefit to a former spouse pursuant to court order.
(e) The right of a member to make an election pursuant to this section shall expire on January 1, 2007.
(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 418, Sec. 25. Effective January 1, 2006.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018