Act Governing Retirement, Severance, and Bereavement Compensation for the Teaching and Other Staff Members of Public Schools Article 83

If the duration of the marriage relationship between a divorcing spouse of a staff member and the staff member was 2 full years or longer, when the statutory property regime or community property regime relationship is extinguished because of the divorce, the divorced spouse may claim for distribution of a share of the pension received by that staff member under this Act in accordance with the following provisions1. The share of the pension which the divorced spouse may claim shall be calculated as one-half of the proportion of the period of the staff member's approved years of service at retirement accounted for by the period during which the statutory property regime or community property regime existed between the divorced spouse and that staff member.2. The standard amount of pension against which the divorced spouse may claim for a share under the preceding subparagraph shall be the receivable lump-sum pension payment calculated based on the staff member's approved years of service at retirement.3. The period during which the statutory property regime or community property regime existed shall be calculated in months; a period of less than a month shall be calculated as one month.4. If the one-half share set out in subparagraph 1 of this paragraph is obviously unfair, either party may make a motion to the court for an adjustment to the amount of, or for exemption from, the distribution thereof.If the divorced spouse under the preceding paragraph enjoys entitlement under any other law to a pension from during the existence of the marriage relationship, the divorced spouse's right to claim for a share hereunder may be exercised only to the extent that the staff member enjoys an equal right to claim for a share of the pension of the divorced spouse under that other law.The right of claim under paragraph 1 may not be assigned or inherited.The right of claim of a divorced spouse of a staff member under paragraph 1 shall be extinguished by prescription if not exercised within 2 years from the time that the divorced spouse knows that he or she has that right. It also shall be extinguished by prescription if not exercised within 5 years from the time that the statutory property regime or community property regime relationship is extinguished.The provisions of this article do not apply to pension received under this Act by a staff member who undergoes compulsory retirement or who retires before the promulgation and enforcement of this Act.The provisions of this article do not apply in the case of those who are already divorced before the promulgation and enforcement of this Act.