Retirement Options and Continuances After You Die
The Plan provides several retirement Options for you to choose from at retirement. Every Option provides an Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner monthly continuance after you die. Some Options provide both an Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner monthly continuance and a named Beneficiary monthly continuance after you die.
You have up to 10 calendar days after your retirement to change your Option. After the 10 days, you will not be able to change your Option, even if your Eligible Spouse/Domestic or named Beneficiary predeceases you.
Retirement Options Table
[Top]Option Full is the highest retirement allowance that you can receive from the Plan. This is the amount that we will calculate when apply the retirement formula to your data.
All other Options are reduced from the Option Full. By taking a lower amount than the Option Full, you will gain some benefit.
| Retirement Options Table | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option | Monthly Allowance | Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner Continuance | Beneficiary Continuance | Refund of Unused Contributions |
| Full | Largest | Up to 50% | No | No |
| A | Reduced | Up to 50% | No | Yes |
| B | Reduced | Up to 50% | 100% | No |
| C | Reduced | Up to 50% | 1% to 99% | No |
| D | Reduced | 100% | No | No |
| E | Reduced | 51 to 99% | No | No |
ELIGIBLE SPOUSE/DOMESTIC PARTNER CONTINUANCE
[Top]To qualify for an Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner continuance, you must be married or registered:
- Continuously for 1 year prior to your retirement date, AND
- On your retirement date, AND
- On the date of your death.
If your Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner predeceases you, or if you divorce/terminate your domestic partnership after retirement, the right to an Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner continuance will stop.
To be eligible for the continuance as registered Domestic Partners, you must be registered with the Plan or with the State of California. We will not accept registrations from other entities, such as the Health Plans Office.
To register your domestic partnership with the Plan, please complete this form.
To terminate your domestic partnership with the Plan, please complete this form.
ELIGIBLE SPOUSE/DOMESTIC PARTNER CONTINUANCE TABLE
[Top]The spouse/domestic partner continuance that you are eligible to receive without a reduction to your retirement or a cost to you, is based on the difference in your ages. The greater the age difference, the less your spouse/domestic partner is eligible to receive automatically without a cost to you.
If you would like to leave a continuance for a higher percentage than the one provided by the Plan in the below table, then you will need to select either Options D or E.
| Eligible Spouse/Domestic Partner Continuance Percentage Table | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years by which member's age exceeds Eligible Spouse's/Domestic Partner's Age |
Percentage of Option Full |
||
| Less than 5 years | 50% | ||
| 5 years but less than 10 years | 47 1/2% | ||
| 10 years but less than 15 years | 45% | ||
| 15 years but less than 20 years | 42 1/2% | ||
| 20 years but less than 25 years | 40% | ||
| 25 years or more | 35% | ||
If your spouse is older than you, the continuance percent is 50%.