Railroad Retirement Pension Evaluations

Division of Tier II Benefits in Divorce

The Tier II benefits under the RRB are subject to division in divorce as
an award of marital property. The RRB calls this a partition of
benefits, and will honor a QDRO-like court order. It does not have to be
labeled a QDRO, but if the text is correct, the court order may be called
a QDRO or merely a domestic relations order (DRO). Further, the RRB will
accept the divorce decree itself as authority to partition benefits if
the decree contains sufficient information for RRB to act on.

Railroad Retirement Board Benefit Statement

Upon request, the RRB will provide a report of the amount of the monthly
annuity being paid to a retired railroad employee and a breakdown of the
divisible and non-divisible components. If the employee is not retired
but has completed ten years of railroad service, the RRB will provide an
estimate of the divisible and non-divisible monthly benefit amount that
would be payable if the employee were of retirement age at the time of
the request. Estimates are not available until the employee has completed
ten years of railroad service. The RRB computes benefit estimates on the
basis of its record of the employee's service and earnings.

  The RRB records are updated annually on the basis of employer reports
of employee service and earnings in the previous year. Benefit estimates
do not reflect reductions that may be applied because of early
retirement. There may also be other reductions to the actual annuity for
various reasons.

  A typical Railroad Retirement statement (estimate) of benefits
is shown below.

       STATEMENT OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEE'S ACTUAL OR ESTIMATED RAILROAD
                            RETIREMENT BENEFITS

Employee's Name: _________________________________________________________

SSN: _____________________________________________________________________

Section A. Purpose of Statement

This is a statement of actual or potential benefits under the Railroad
Retirement Act with respect to the employee named above. It is furnished
pursuant to 20 C.F.R. Part 295 for use in connection with a state court
action for divorce, legal separation, or annulment involving this
employee. Entries in the sections below provide relevant information
about the employee's actual or estimated benefits under the Act.

Section B. Statement of Current Railroad Retirement Benefit Entitlement
 

The benefit amounts reported in Section C below represent:

[] The amount that the Railroad Retirement Board is currently paying to the
employee on the first day of each month.

[] An estimate of the employee's current monthly benefit based on his/her
railroad employment through ______________ [insert date], assuming
the employee was retired and was entitled to payment of benefits.

[] No benefit estimate is available because the employee has not
completed 10 years of railroad employment as of ___________________
[insert date].

Section C. Monthly Railroad Retirement Benefit Amounts

Tier I railroad retirement benefit component:    $_____________

Divisible railroad retirement benefit components
(Tier II, supplemental annuity, dual benefits):  $_____________

Total monthly railroad retirement benefits:      $_____________

Caution: The Tier I benefit component is not subject to division, and the
Railroad Retirement Board will not recognize any property division made
with respect to it.

Section D. Railroad Retirement Divorced Spouse

Benefit Estimate (assuming current entitlement under the Railroad
Retirement Act) the divorced spouse benefit for the spouse of the
railroad employee would be $________________ per month, effective
__________________ [insert date], minus any Social Security benefits the
spouse receives for the same month.

Section E. Certification

Pursuant to Title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 295, §
295.6(d), I hereby certify that the information reported herein is taken
from the official records of the Railroad Retirement Board under the
Railroad Retirement Act.

______________________________      ______________________________
         Signature                              Title

______________________________      ______________________________
     Telephone Number                            Date

Although the "Caution" in Section C applies to property division, Tier I
benefits are nevertheless subject to garnishment for court-ordered
maintenance or support. Therefore, this benefit statement should be
requested in any case where there may be such a court order.

  The divorced spouse benefit shown in Section D may be misleading as it
 
is not explained on the form. This benefit is equivalent to a divorced
spouse benefit under Social Security and it applies automatically to Tier
I benefits if the marriage has lasted at least ten years. No
negotiation, settlement, or court action is needed to obtain this
railroad retirement divorced spouse benefit; an eligible former spouse
need only apply for it upon reaching his or her retirement age.

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