IV. Dividing Retirement Benefits

§4.01 Community Property Shares

You must make whatever orders are necessary or appropriate to ensure that each party receives his or her full community property share in any retirement plan, whether public or private, including all survivor and death benefits. [FC §2610(a)] This includes ordering a retirement plan to make payments directly to a nonmember of a party's community property interest in retirement benefits.[FC §2610(a)(4).] Federal requirements for an order to private employee pension plans are discussed in §4.09.

But you may not order a retirement plan to [FC §2610(b)]:

• Pay benefits in any manner that will increase the amount of benefits; or
• Pay benefits to any party at any time before the member retires, except as provided in public employee retirement plans [see §4.11] or if the plan so provides.