ARTICLE 2. Community Property [21290. - 21298.]

Cal. Government Code - GOV 2.

in effect

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21290. Section 21290.

(a) Upon the legal separation or dissolution of marriage of a member, the court shall include in the judgment or a court order the date on which the parties separated. (b) If the community property is divided in accordance with paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 2610 of the Family Code, the court shall order that the accumulated contributions and service credit attributable to periods of service during the marriage be divided into two separate and distinct accounts in the name of the member and the nonmember, respectively. Any service credit or accumulated contributions that are not explicitly awarded by the judgment or court order shall be deemed the exclusive property of the member. (c) The court shall address the rights of the nonmember to the following: (1) The right to a retirement allowance, and the consequent right to elect an optional settlement and designate a beneficiary. (2) The right to a refund of accumulated contributions. (3) The right to redeposit accumulated contributions that are eligible for redeposit by the member under Sections 20750 and 20752. (4) The right to purchase service credit that is eligible for purchase by the member under Article 4 (commencing with Section 20990) and Article 5 (commencing with Section 21020) of Chapter 11. (5) The right to designate a beneficiary to receive his or her accumulated contributions payable where death occurs prior to retirement. (6) The right to designate a beneficiary for any unpaid allowance payable at the time of the nonmember’s death. (7) The right to elect coverage in the Second Tier for that member service that is subject to the Second Tier, provided that the election is made within one year of the establishment of the nonmember account or prior to the nonmember’s retirement, whichever occurs first. Immediately upon establishment of a nonmember account, the board shall provide, by certified mail, the necessary form and information so that the election may be made. (d) In the capacity of nonmember, he or she shall not be entitled to any disability or industrial disability retirement allowance, any basic death benefit, any special death benefit, any monthly allowance for survivors of a member or retired person, any insurance benefit, or retired member lump-sum death benefit. No survivor continuance allowance shall be payable to a survivor of a nonmember. (e) (1) A nonmember whose account is credited with service subject to the Second Tier benefits provided in Section 21076 or 21077 may make an irrevocable election, to be filed with the board, to have his or her Second Tier service credited under Section 21354.1, if the following conditions are met: (A) The member is employed by the state on or after January 1, 2000. (B) If eligible, the member has made the election provided in subdivision (a) of Section 21073.7 at the time of the nonmember’s election. (2) An election under this subdivision shall be effective the first of the month following the date the election is received by the system. An election under this subdivision may be made at any time prior to the retirement of the nonmember or prior to payment of a refund of the accumulated contributions in the separate account of the nonmember. A nonmember who makes the election under this subdivision shall make the contributions specified in Section 21073.1. (3) The term “member” as used in this subdivision means the person from whose account the Second Tier service that is credited to the separate account of the nonmember was derived.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21291. Section 21291.

“Nonmember,” as used in this article, means the spouse or former spouse of a member, who as a result of petitioning the court for the division of community property, has been awarded a distinct and separate account reflecting specific credited service and accumulated contributions.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21291.5. Section 21291.5.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, a spouse or registered domestic partner who is not an alternate payee, as defined in Section 414(p)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. Sec. 401 et seq.) shall not receive a distribution until the member separates from employment.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21292. Section 21292.

(a) The nonmember who is awarded a separate account shall have the right to a refund of the accumulated contributions in the separate account of the nonmember. (b) The nonmember shall file an application on a form provided by this system to obtain the refund. (c) The refund shall be effective when this system deposits in the United States mail an initial warrant drawn in favor of the nonmember and addressed to the latest address for the nonmember on file with this system. (d) The nonmember is deemed to have permanently waived all rights in this system and all rights to any future retirement benefits pertaining to the service credit accumulated contributions, or both, when the refund becomes effective. (e) The nonmember may not cancel a refund once it has become effective. (f) The nonmember shall have no right to elect to redeposit the refunded accumulated contributions from the nonmember’s account after the refund is effective, and shall have no right to redeposit under Section 20750 or 20752 , or to purchase service credit under Article 4 (commencing with Section 20990) or Article 5 (commencing with Section 21020) of Chapter 11 after the refund becomes effective. (g) If at the time of the marriage dissolution or legal separation, the member does not have the necessary minimum credited service to retire, the nonmember shall receive a refund of the accumulated contributions placed in the nonmember’s account.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21293. Section 21293.

(a) The nonmember who is awarded a separate account may redeposit accumulated contributions previously refunded to the member in accordance with the determination of the court required by Section 21290. (b) The nonmember may redeposit only those accumulated contributions that were previously refunded to the member and that the court has determined to be the community property interest of the nonmember in the accumulated contributions. (c) If the nonmember elects to redeposit, he or she shall repay the accumulated contributions pursuant to Section 20750 or Section 20752. (d) An election to redeposit shall be considered an election to repay all accumulated contributions previously refunded that the nonmember is entitled to redeposit. (e) The right of the nonmember to redeposit is subject to the regulations of the board. (f) The member has no right to redeposit the share of the nonmember in the previously refunded accumulated contributions unless the nonmember has permanently waived all rights in the system by effecting a refund of accumulated contributions pursuant to Section 21292. However, any right to redeposit previously refunded accumulated contributions not explicitly awarded to the nonmember by the judgment or court order shall be deemed the exclusive property of the member. (g) If the nonmember elected to redeposit upon retirement and has subsequently died, prior to completing the redeposit, the board shall file a claim against the estate of the decedent to recover benefit payments that exceeded those for which payment was made.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21294. Section 21294.

(a) The nonmember shall have the right to purchase service credit pursuant to the determination of the court required by Section 21290. (b) The nonmember may purchase only that service credit that the court, pursuant to Section 21290 has determined to be the community property interest of the nonmember spouse. (c) If the nonmember elects to purchase service credit, he or she shall pay, prior to retirement, the contributions and interest required by Article 4 (commencing with Section 20990) and Article 5 (commencing with Section 21020) of Chapter 11 and pursuant to the regulations of the board. (d) The nonmember shall have no right to purchase the service credit after the effective date of a refund of the accumulated contributions in the separate account of the nonmember. (e) The member has no right to purchase the community property interest of the nonmember of the service credit unless the nonmember has permanently waived all rights in the system by effecting a refund of accumulated contributions pursuant to Section 21292. However, any service credit eligible for purchase that is not explicitly awarded to the nonmember by the judgment or court order shall be deemed the exclusive property of the member. (f) If the nonmember elected to purchase service credits upon retirement and has subsequently died, prior to completing the purchase, the board shall file a claim against the estate of the deceased to recover benefit payments that exceeded those for which payment was made.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21295. Section 21295.

A nonmember shall be retired upon his or her written application to the board if all of the following conditions are met: (a) The nonmember has attained the minimum age prescribed by the applicable service retirement formula of the member. (b) On the date of marriage dissolution or legal separation, the member had sufficient credited service to retire for service. (c) On the date of application, the member has attained minimum retirement age to receive a service retirement allowance.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21296. Section 21296.

Retirement shall be effective and the retirement allowance shall begin to accrue as of the date designated in the nonmember’s application as the effective date of retirement, or the day following the date of court order dividing the community property of the member and nonmember, if later. If the retirement application is not received within nine months of the requested effective date, in no event shall the retirement become effective or the retirement allowance begin to accrue earlier than the first day of the month in which the nonmember’s application is received at an office of the board or by an employee of this system designated by the board, or, if the nonmember has been incompetent to act on his or her own behalf continuously from the date of dissolution or legal separation, one year prior to the month in which an application by the guardian of his or her estate is so received. An application for retirement may only be filed by or for a nonmember who is living on the date the application is actually received by this system. The effective date of a nonmember application for retirement received more than nine months after the requested effective date shall be determined in accordance with Section 20160.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21297. Section 21297.

For a nonmember, “final compensation” means the highest average annual compensation earnable by the member during the three consecutive years, or one year where applicable, prior to the date of dissolution of marriage or legal separation. The nonmember may designate an earlier period to be used where the time period of the nonmember’s marriage to the member and membership correspond.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 21298. Section 21298.

(a) A nonmember entitled to receive a retirement allowance shall receive a retirement allowance based on the service retirement formula applicable to the service credited to the nonmember. (b) The retirement allowance shall consist of a pension and an annuity, the latter of which shall be derived from the nonmember’s accumulated contributions. The nonmember’s retirement allowance, based upon the service credited by the employer and the nonmember’s effective date of retirement, shall be subject to all cost-of-living increases, ad hoc increases, and increases provided by Section 21337 or 21337.1. (c) If, prior to the nonmember’s retirement, there is any increase in the service retirement formula that applies to service credited to the nonmember, that increase shall apply to the applicable service credited to the nonmember, provided that the same increase also applies to the applicable service credited to the member from whose account the nonmember’s service was derived.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026