(a) A member eligible for retirement must certify to the current marital status of the member on any withdrawal or retirement application filed with the system.
  (1) A member eligible for retirement who is married may not select a form of payment of a retirement benefit other than as a qualified joint-and-survivor annuity unless the member's spouse consents to the selection.
  (2) A member eligible for retirement who is married may not withdraw from membership and receive a refund unless the member's spouse consents to the refund.
  (3) A member who is unmarried may designate any beneficiary and select any form of payment of a retirement benefit permitted under the Act.
(b) The consent required by subsection (a) of this section is not required if it is established to the satisfaction of the system that:
  (1) there is no spouse;
  (2) the spouse cannot be located;
  (3) the spouse has been judicially declared incompetent in which case the consent may be given by the guardian or other ad litem;
  (4) a duly licensed physician has determined that the spouse is not mentally capable of managing his or her own affairs and the director is satisfied that a guardianship of the estate is not necessary;
  (5) the spouse and the member will have been married for less than one year as of the date the member files a valid application for a refund of the member's accumulated deposits, or as of the effective retirement date designated by the member on the member's valid application for retirement; or
  (6) no service performed by the member as an employee of a participating subdivision and credited in the system was performed during the marriage of the member and the spouse.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the term "qualified joint-and survivor annuity" means a retirement annuity for the life of the member with a survivor annuity for the life of the member's spouse which is not less than 50% of the amount of the annuity which is payable during the joint lives of the member and spouse.
(d) An unrevoked beneficiary designation on file with the system as of December 31, 1999, or filed thereafter remains valid until revoked by the member, or, if the member's spouse is a designated beneficiary, until the member and the spouse become divorced.
(e) The system and employees of the system may rely upon the certification of the member filed under this section, and are not liable to any person for making payments of any benefits in accordance with the certification even though the certification is later shown to have been untrue on the date of execution.

Source Note: The provisions of this §103.3 adopted to be effective August 28, 1989, 14 TexReg 3352; amended to be effective January 10, 1996, 21 TexReg 134; amended to be effective December 31, 1999, 24 TexReg 9301; amended to be effective March 27, 2007, 32 TexReg 1749; amended to be effective July 26, 2012, 37 TexReg 5488