QDRO Corner: Maryland State Retirement Pension System – Survivor Options

The Maryland State Retirement Pension System (“MSRPS”) is one of the few plans that requires MORE information in a domestic relations order for a retired employee than it does for active employees.

Once an employee in the MSRPS begins receiving benefits from the plan, the opportunity has passed for the employee to select or change survivor options and the pension can only be divided as a shared interest, not a separate interest.

The MSRPS does not allow the survivor benefit option that was selected at retirement to be changed via a domestic relations order. MSRPS does, however, require that the survivor benefit option selected at retirement be included in the domestic relations order. The plan administrator (the Attorney General’s office) won’t share this information with the domestic relations preparer or the attorney for the former spouse, so it has to be provided by the participant. Therefore, if your case involves a retired State of Maryland employee, not only should you request the plan statements in discovery to get the plan name correct, but you should also request the paperwork submitted upon retirement. These documents can be obtained via a subpoena, if necessary.

A full description of the survivor benefit options that can be selected can be found in the Md. Code, State Personnel and Pensions, § 21-403.