§ 9-18-101 - Definitions.

9-18-101. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Circuit court" means the equity court of each county in the State of Arkansas created under 16-13-301 [repealed];

(2) "Domestic relations order" means any judgment, decree, or order, including approval of a property settlement agreement, that relates to the provisions for child support, alimony payment, or marital property rights to a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependents of a participant under Arkansas law;

(3) "Participant" means any person or member of a retirement plan;

(4) "Qualified domestic relations order" means a domestic relations order:

(A) Which creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right to, or assigns to an alternate payee the right to, receive all or a portion of the benefits payable with respect to a participant's retirement plan;

(B) Which clearly specifies the name and last known mailing address, if any, of the participant and the name and mailing address of each alternate payee covered by the order, the amount or percentage of the participant's benefits to be paid by the plan to each alternate payee or the manner in which the amount or percentage is determined, the number of payments or period of time to which the order applies, and each retirement plan to which the order applies; and

(C) Which does not require the retirement plan to provide any type or form of benefit, or pay options not otherwise available under the plan, does not require the plan to provide increased benefits, and does not require the payment of benefits to an alternate payee that are required to be paid to another alternate payee under another order previously determined to be a qualified domestic relations order; and

(5) "Retirement plan" means any retirement plan, private or public, including, but not limited to:

(A) The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System;

(B) The State Police Retirement System;

(C) The Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System;

(D) The Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System;

(E) The Arkansas Judicial Retirement System; and

(F) Other state-supported alternate retirement systems.