Yes. If you are vested when you separate employment, you are eligible to receive a lifetime monthly benefit regardless of the circumstances of your termination.
The PERA pension is considered a marital asset. If you have been divorced during your public service employment, we need to have a copy of your decree to confirm whether or not your benefit needs to split with an ex-spouse upon retirement.
Yes, it is important to keep your beneficiaries current. Additionally if you received a refund of your previous PERA contributions, then you will need to name beneficiaries on your account for your reemployment.
No. You cannot name a different survivor once begin receiving your benefit regardless of the circumstances. However, divorce is the one exception where you can revoke the survivor option and have the benefit revert to the single life option. If your divorce court document states to revoke the survivor option, we will send you a revocation form that will be completed by you and the former spouse to opt-out of receiving the survivor benefit.
