Does CalPERS Require a Joinder?

A joinder is a powerful set of documents that serves as notification to a retirement/pension plan of a family law court case, joins the plan to the case, and freezes a member’s account.  If you are wondering if CalPERS requires a Joinder, review the following general guidelines.

As a party to your family law case, CalPERS has guidelines and orders to follow as directed by the court.

California Court’s requirement for Joinder – According to California’s RETIREMENT PLAN JOINDER—INFORMATION SHEET (FL-318-INFO) a joinder is required for Governmental plan of a state, county, public school or university, or other public agency. Within the […]

Request for Dismissal – CalPERS Account Claim

In the event that a CalPERS account has had a hold placed on it by way of a Joinder, CalPERS requires a “Request for Dismissal”, which is commonly done with California Court form CIV-110.

The form is signed by the party who requested the Joinder or their attorney. Upon the court receiving it, the court clerk can sometimes dismiss the action without the judge’s approval. A copy of the filed dismissal is provided to CalPERS so they will then release the claim on the CalPERS member’s account.

If a community property claim was placed as a result of some method other than […]

Removing a CalPERS Claim

If a formal claim has been placed on a member’s CalPERS account in anticipation of a community property award for a family law case it must be formally removed. It most commonly happens when a judgment is filed that divides an account or when the case is dismissed. Below is a general list of ways to remove a claim on a CalPERS account.

Request for Dismissal: If a member’s CalPERS account has a claim resulting from a filed and served Joinder but a judgment has not been filed, CalPERS requires a “Request for Dismissal”. Judicial Counsel form CIV-110 is commonly used […]

Placing a Claim on a CalPERS Account

Retirement accounts are often an issue in the process of a divorce or legal separation. For those people who have CalPERS accounts and want to place a hold or freeze the account during the family law case CalPERS accepts several different types of “Claims” to do so. Once CalPERS receives a claim on a member’s account, a hold in placed on it until the community property issue has been resolved. Below is a general list of the types of claims CalPERS accepts.

A Joinder: This is a very common method of claiming an interest on a CalPERS account. This is a […]

CalPERS Joinder

CalPERS Joinder Overview
A joinder is a powerful set of documents that serves as notification to a retirement/pension plan of a family law court case, joins the plan to the case, and freezes a member’s account.  There are multiple steps to process the joinder start to finish as listed below in a general procedural overview.
CalPERS  & Joinders: CalPERS accepts different types of notifications or claims regarding a division of pension accounts, the most common of which is a Joinder. As stated in “A Guide to CalPERS Community Property” publication 38A, December 2012 version, CalPERS cannot be legally bound to enforce a […]