South Carolina Code 9-18-30. Determination of whether domestic relations order is qualified domestic relations order; procedure; payment of benefits upon order; exclusion of retirement system from liability for making payments of benefits; liability …
(B) The administrator of the retirement system or his designee upon receipt of a certified copy of a domestic relations order, shall determine whether the order is a qualified domestic relations order and shall notify the member or retired member and the alternate payee of the determination. If the order is determined to be a qualified domestic relations order, the retirement system shall pay benefits in accordance with the order. If the order is determined not to be a qualified domestic relations order, the member or retired member or alternate payee named in the order may appeal the administrator’s determination in the manner specified in subsection (A) of this section and may petition the court which issued the order to amend the order so that it will be qualified. The court which issued the order or which would otherwise have jurisdiction over the matter has jurisdiction to amend the order so that it will be qualified even though all other matters incident to the action or proceeding have been fully and finally adjudicated.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 9-18-30
- Administrator: means the director of the retirement systems. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
- Alternate payee: means a spouse or former spouse of a member or retired member who is recognized by a domestic relations order as having a right to receive all or a portion of the benefits payable by a retirement system with respect to such member or retired member. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Board: means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
- Domestic relations order: means any judgement, decree, or order, including approval of a property settlement agreement, which relates to the provision of alimony payments or marital property rights to a spouse or former spouse of a member or retired member, and is made pursuant to a domestic relations law, including a law of this State or of another state. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
- Qualified domestic relations order: means a domestic relations order which creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right, or assigns to an alternate payee the right, to receive all or a portion of a benefit payable with respect to a member or retired member under a retirement system, which directs that retirement system to disburse benefits to the alternate payee, and which meets the requirements of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
- system: means the South Carolina Retirement System, Retirement System for Judges and Solicitors of the State of South Carolina, Retirement System for Members of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, or South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System. See South Carolina Code 9-18-10
(C) During any period in which the issue of whether or not a domestic relations order is a qualified domestic relations order is being determined by the administrator, his designee, a court of competent jurisdiction, or the retirement system, the retirement system shall separately account for the amounts which would have been payable to the alternate payee during the period if the order had been determined to be a qualified domestic relations order. These separately accounted amounts are "segregated amounts" for purposes of this section.
(D) If a domestic relations order is determined to be a qualified domestic relations order, then the retirement system shall pay the segregated amounts without interest to the person or persons entitled thereto and shall thereafter pay benefits pursuant to the order.
(E) If a domestic relations order is determined not to be a qualified domestic relations order or if within eighteen months of the date a domestic relations order is received by the retirement system the issue as to whether the order is a qualified domestic relations order is not resolved, then the retirement system shall pay the segregated amounts without interest to the person or persons who would have been entitled to the amounts if there had been no order. This subsection must not be construed to limit or otherwise affect any liability, responsibility, or duty of a party with respect to any other party to the action out of which the order arose.
(F) Any determination that an order is a qualified domestic relations order which is made after the close of the eighteen-month period must be applied prospectively only.
(G) The retirement systems, the board, and officers and employees of each retirement system are not liable to any person for making payments of any benefits in accordance with a qualified domestic relations order in a cause in which a member or a retired member was a party or for making payments in accordance with subsections (D) and (E) of this section.
(H) A court does not have jurisdiction over a retirement system with respect to a divorce or other domestic relations action in which an alternate payee’s right to receive all or a portion of the benefits payable to a member or retired member under the retirement system is created or established. A party to such an action who attempts to make the retirement system a party to the action contrary to the provision of this subsection is liable to the retirement system for its costs and attorney’s fees.