Section 1700-03-03-.05 - REQUIREMENTS FOR A VALID QDRO(1) The retirement system will accept a court order as a valid QDRO if the order meets all of the following requirements:(a) The order must relate to the provision of marital property rights for the benefit of the former spouse of the member or retiree.(b) The order must be a certified copy of an original or amended order dated on or after the effective date of the rules in this Chapter.(c) The order must have been issued by a court of competent jurisdiction in a divorce proceeding that provides for the distribution of property, or any proceeding to amend or enforce such a property distribution.(d) The order must identify the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System as the retirement system to which it is directed.(e) The order must contain the name, address, and social security number of the member.(f) The order must contain the name, address, and social security number of the alternate payee.(g) The order must express any amount to be paid to the alternate payee from a member's retirement allowance as a dollar amount per month or as a percentage per month.(h) The order must contain the beginning and ending dates of the marriage of the member and the alternate payee and assign a portion of the member's retirement allowance under the retirement system based upon the period of marriage.(i) The order must contain an assignment of the retirement allowance based upon the value of a member's entitlement under the retirement system if he or she were to retire at full retirement age utilizing the regular service retirement allowance without taking into account an early retirement penalty for his or her total creditable service through the valuation date.(j) The order must express any amount to be paid to the alternate payee from a member' s refund as a dollar amount or as a percentage of the refund.(k) The order must contain a provision authorizing the retirement system to increase the amount payable to the alternate payee each month based upon the alternate payee's share of any cost of living adjustment received by the member.(l) The order must contain a provision directing the director to make payment to the alternate payee in accordance with the QDRO until either the member or the alternate payee dies, whichever occurs first. The order must contain a provision that provides that the QDRO becomes null and void upon the death of the member or the alternate payee.(2) An order that purports to require a member to terminate employment, to withdraw contributions, or to apply for retirement will not be accepted by the retirement system as a valid QDRO.(3) The order may specify an alternative method for the parties to verify their social security numbers to the retirement system, if the court finds that omission of the numbers in the order is necessary to reduce the risk of identity theft. The order is not a QDRO if the retirement system finds that the method of verification is insufficient for the purposes of payment of benefits or reporting of income for tax purposes.Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1700-03-03-.05
Original rule filed March 28, 2016; effective 6/26/2016.Authority: T.C.A. §§ 8-34-313, 8-36-128, and 8-36-206.