QDRO Corner: Maryland State Retirement Pension System

Most employees of the State of Maryland have an interest in the Maryland State Retirement Pension System (“MSRPS”) for their retirement. The MSRPS consists of multiple retirement plans each with their own name and rules, including two for teachers (and participation is based on employment start date), one for the judiciary, and others for correctional officers and other state employees. 

Since the MSRPS consists of multiple named plans, any domestic relations order being submitted to the MSRPS must state the name of the specific plan in which the employee participates. Failure to do so will result in a rejection of the domestic relations order. Some of these plan names are quite similar. For example, the Teachers’ Pension System and the Employees’ Pension System. To make matters more confusing, teachers in Maryland depending on their exact circumstances could be eligible for participation in either of these plans – meaning, that just because there’s an MSRPS pension in your case and that party is a teacher, it doesn’t necessarily mean the person is a participant in the Teachers’ Pension System.

The participant should receive annual statements from the plan. In the event the participant says they don’t get these statements – there’s an online portal for them to log-in and download it. This statement includes a lot of good information, including the name of the specific plan, the plan entry date, the hire date, the creditable service, and an estimate of the retirement benefit. Be sure to request this documentation in discovery to be fully informed regarding this benefit not only for any settlement discussions, but to facilitate the drafting of the domestic relations order.