LEGAL REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES

JOINDER REQUIREMENT

Joinder is a legal process that names StanCERA as a third-party claimant in the dissolution proceeding (sections 2060 – 2065 of the California Family Code).

When joined, StanCERA is notified of the dissolution of marriage action and is a party to that action. StanCERA requires that it be joined as a party to the proceeding and will not recognize court orders addressing a member’s account in the system unless StanCERA has been joined.

Joinder forms are available from the court. The member or representing attorney must complete these forms, file them with the court and serve them on StanCERA. StanCERA will accept service of joinder by mail at the following address:

Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Association
P O Box 3150
Modesto CA 95353-3150

If both parties have pension plans and each party retains his/her pension plan in total, or if the StanCERA member will retain all interest in his/her plan due to a buyout of the former spouse’s community property interest, StanCERA does not need to be joined as a party to the dissolution. In this case, the member should give StanCERA a copy of the order establishing that the pension is entirely his/her sole and separate property.

DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDER REQUIREMENT

A domestic relations order (DRO) is a legal document. It consists of a stipulation signed by all parties and an order executed by a judge identifying how retirement benefits are to be divided.

For a DRO dividing community property interest to be acceptable, it must be in compliance with the terms of the 1937 Act** and other applicable laws. A court cannot make an order that is not in compliance with the 1937 Act or that would require the retirement plan to make payments in any manner that would result in an increase in the amount of benefits provided by the plan. Under no circumstances will payments be made to the member and nonmember that exceeds the amount that otherwise would have been paid to the member alone. This may result in a reduction of the retirement benefit to both the member and the nonmember.

To avoid unnecessary delay, a draft DRO should be submitted to StanCERA for pre-approval before obtaining the signatures of the member and nonmember. StanCERA will review the draft and may recommend changes, then will return the draft to the appropriate parties for signing and filing with the court.

After the parties involved have completed a final “StanCERA approved” version of the DRO and have signed the documents, StanCERA will sign the final version before it is filed with the court. Once the court approves the DRO, StanCERA requires a conformed or certified file-stamped, court-executed DRO.