§2035 Retirement annuity for certain former spouses

Summary

Gives certain former spouses a retirement payment. It applies to people who were former spouses on November 15, 1982, and to people divorced after November 15, 1982 from someone who retired before that date. If the former spouse was married to the worker for the worker’s entire creditable service, the former spouse gets 50 percent of the worker’s annuity. If not married for the whole service, the former spouse gets a pro rata share of that 50 percent. A former spouse cannot get the payment if they remarried before age 55 (but the payment returns if that later marriage ends by death, annulment, or divorce) or if they are under age 50. Payments start on the later of: when the worker becomes eligible for a retirement annuity, the month the divorce or annulment is final, or the former spouse’s 50th birthday. Payments stop when the former spouse dies, remarries before 55, or when the worker’s annuity ends. If the worker had a disability annuity, the former spouse’s payment starts when the worker would have qualified for a regular annuity or when the disability annuity begins, whichever is later, and the amount is based on that regular annuity. The former spouse must choose this payment instead of any survivor annuity from another government system. A written application had to be filed by June 2, 1990 (the Director can waive the deadline), and benefits can only be paid back to December 2, 1987. The deadline does not apply when entitlement is restored after a remarriage ends. These rules do not reduce the worker’s own annuity.