(a) BEFORE RETIREMENT. Under the Act, a participant's accumulated contributions (with interest as allowed thereon under the Act) may become payable to a participant upon terminating municipal employment and membership in the system prior to retirement, as set forth in the Act, §852.103, or may become payable to the participant's designee or estate under the Act, §854.501, in the event of the participant's death prior to retirement. A domestic relations order regarding a participant who has not yet retired should clearly state the basis upon which any portion of such sums should be payable to an alternate payee.
(b) AT AND AFTER RETIREMENT. Under the Act, a service retirement benefit or a disability retirement benefit may become payable to the participant (and, upon the participant's death, to a designee) as set forth in the Act, §§854.101-854.105 and §§854.405-854.411. A domestic relations order regarding a participant should clearly state the basis upon which any portion of such retirement benefit should be payable to an alternate payee.
(c) In the event that a domestic relations order that is signed by the presiding judge after the effective date of this section calls for the division of benefits on the basis of accumulated contributions, but the order does not clearly state how interest allowed on the accumulated contributions after the date of divorce will be divided, then the accumulated contributions under the applicable sections of the Act from which the alternate payee's portion of benefits will be calculated shall include interest thereon as allowed by the plan after the date the divorce was granted.
(d) A supplemental death benefit may become payable under the Act, §854.603 or §854.604, upon the death of a participant who was or had been employed by certain of the municipalities participating in the system. That benefit is not the property of a participant, but rather is a benefit that is paid by the system as a result of the death of a participant. If any portion of such benefit becomes payable to an alternate payee under the express wording of a qualified domestic relations order, it will be so paid upon the death of the participant; however, if the domestic relations order does not specifically provide that some portion of that benefit is to be paid to an alternate payee, then no portion of the supplemental death benefit shall be paid otherwise than as set forth in the Act, §854.605.

Source Note: The provisions of this §129.6 adopted to be effective July 1, 2022, 47 TexReg 3272