Generally, an election of a form of payment cannot be changed after the first pension payment is made. The named survivor pension beneficiary may not be changed after the first pension payment is made if form of payment B or C is elected, unless the retired member who is being paid under form of payment B or C meets the criteria for deselection in NMSA 1978, Section 10-11-116. PERA must be provided with a court order, or Order Changing Form of Payment Survivor Beneficiary of PERA Retirement Benefits, which complies with the PERA Act and PERA Rule, 2 NMAC 80.1600.30 to change a form of payment election after divorce. If the retiree meets eligibility for deselection, a sample Order Changing Form of Payment Survivor Beneficiary can be found here.

Upon receipt of such an order and a written determination by the Office of General Counsel that the order complies with PERA’s statutes and rules, PERA will change the divorced retiree’s pension once the administrative process for deselection is also complete. More information about the deselection process is here.

If the divorcing parties agree, an order can be entered into allowing the former spouse to be removed as the member’s post-retirement beneficiary along with reverting the retiree’s form of payment to Form of Payment Option A. The Attorney Instructions and a Model Order Changing Retirement Benefits Form of Payment Election Incident to Divorce can be found here.

Parties are encouraged to submit a proposed Order Changing Form of Payment of PERA Retirement Benefits to the PERA Office of General Counsel for pre-approval as to form prior to submitting the Order to the court for signature.