Spokane Municipal Code

Title 03 Administration and Personnel

Chapter 03.05 Spokane Employees' Retirement System

Section 03.05.240 Pension Not Subject to Execution

1. The right of a person to a pension, as annuity or a retirement allowance, the return of contributions, the pension annuity or retirement allowance itself, any optional benefit, any other right accrued or accruing to any person under the provisions of this chapter or any prior ordinance, and the moneys in the retirement fund, shall not be subject to execution, garnishment, attachment, or any other process whatsoever and shall be unassignable except as specifically provided in this chapter.
    

2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, benefits due a member hereunder pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be paid to an alternate payee in accordance with the applicable requirements of any qualified domestic relations order, or as directed in an order to withhold and deliver under RCW 74.20A.080. A qualified domestic relations order means a domestic relations order which creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee’s right to, or assigns to the alternate payee the right to, receive all or a portion of the benefits payable with respect to a member under this chapter. A domestic relations order means any judgment, decree, or order (including approval of a property settlement agreement) which relates to the provisions of child support, alimony payments, or marital property rights to a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a member and is made pursuant to a state domestic relations law. A domestic relations order will be qualified only if it:

   1. unambiguously specifies the amount or percentage of the member’s benefits to be paid by the retirement system to each alternate payee or the manner in which such amount or percentage is to be determined;

   2. does not require the retirement system to provide any type of form or benefits or any option not otherwise provided under this chapter;

   3. does not require the retirement system to provide increased benefits (determined on the basis of actuarial value);

   4. does not require the payment of benefits to an alternate payee which are required to be paid to another alternate payee or to a person pursuant to an order to withhold and deliver;

   5. does not require the retirement system to pay a benefit to the alternate payee before the earliest date on which a benefit could be elected by a member who had the same years of creditable service as a member had at the date of the entry of the order;

   6. provides that the division of benefits will end upon the death of either the member or the alternate payee; and

   7. complies in all respects with the requirements of the board’s rules with respect to qualified domestic relations orders as they are in effect from time to time.

Date Passed: Monday, December 15, 2008

Effective Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009

ORD C34366 Section 19