Gov. Code, § 21477 · Article 7. Optional Settlements On and After January 1, 2018
Gov. Code, § 21477
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) The Flexible Beneficiary Option 4 consists of the right to have a retirement allowance paid to a member until his or her death, and thereafter to have a monthly allowance paid to his or her named beneficiary or beneficiaries for life. Subject to Section 21471.2, the member may select the monthly allowance payable to the named beneficiary or beneficiaries from the options below:
(1) Specific Dollar Amount to a Beneficiary or Beneficiaries. The member may specify that upon his or her death after retirement, a monthly allowance in an amount determined by the member be paid to a named beneficiary or beneficiaries for life.
(2) Specific Percentage to a Beneficiary or Beneficiaries. The member may specify that upon his or her death after retirement, a monthly allowance in an amount equivalent to a specified percentage of the member’s allowance be paid to a named beneficiary or beneficiaries for life.
(3) Court Ordered Community Property. Upon receipt of documentation by the board and solely for purposes of dividing community property in connection with the legal separation or dissolution of marriage, a court may order the member to select this option to provide the nonmember spouse with a lifetime monthly allowance equal to the nonmember spouse’s system interest as defined in the court order. This order shall comply with Section 2610 of the Family Code.
(A) Any portion of the member’s unmodified benefit that is not awarded to the nonmember spouse shall be the member’s separate benefit.
(B) The actuarial reduction necessary to provide a lifetime benefit to the nonmember spouse shall be based on the joint lives of both the member and the nonmember spouse as determined by the board. Unless the court order provides otherwise, the actuarial reduction will be applied to the nonmember spouse’s system interest.
(C) A member who selects this option shall have the right to receive his or her separate interest for his or her life alone or may designate another beneficiary or beneficiaries to receive a benefit after the member’s death as set forth in Section 21471 or 21474, or this section.
(D) This section is not intended to limit the parties’ rights to obtain a court order providing for any other division of the community property interest acceptable to the board in accordance with Section 2610 of the Family Code or for the selection of a different optional settlement.
(b) This section shall apply to any member who retires on or after January 1, 2018.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 241, Sec. 18. (SB 525) Effective January 1, 2018.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=21477.
- Text hash
- sha256 924a81899f8e766d6bd77ba2d29073fcf7b05a76f1e5e6b565fbb86757c08c46
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 10 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Gov. Code, § 21477. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 21473Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21478Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21481Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21492Printed as Sections 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, and 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21504Printed as Section 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21505Printed as Section 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21530Printed as Section 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21604Printed as Section 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21628Printed as Section 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21631Printed as Section 21456, 21457, 21459, 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.