HB 23-1144

House Bill 23-1144, which has been signed into law, affects public employees in Colorado who are part of the Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA) and have divorced. Under this bill, if a PERA member's ex-spouse remarries, the member and their ex-spouse must agree to end the monthly retirement benefits that were being shared due to their divorce agreement. The terminated benefit will then go back to the original PERA member instead of continuing to be paid to the ex-spouse. This change requires both parties to sign a written agreement detailing the division of benefits.

Official Summary

Currently, a member of any public employee retirement association (member) and the member's ex-spouse can agree to divide the member's monthly retirement benefits under a defined benefit plan pursuant to a divorce. If the member and the ex-spouse agree to divide the monthly benefit payment between them, the ex-spouse is entitled to receive a share of the monthly benefits until the ex-spouse dies. For a member who receives a defined benefit administered by the public employees' retirement association (PERA) on and after specified dates, the bill requires the PERA member and the ex-spouse to agree to terminate the ex-spouse's monthly PERA benefits if the ex-spouse remarries. The bill specifies certain information that must be included in the written agreement dividing the PERA member's benefits and specifies that the terminated monthly benefit will accrue to the retired PERA member. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)