# Title 71 — Retirement Board

## Article 71-05 — Highway Patrol Retirement System

## Chapter 71-05-08 — Qualified Domestic Relations Orders

### § 71-05-08-01. Payment in accordance with qualified domestic relations orders.

Retirement benefits must be paid in accordance with any qualified domestic relations order
(QDRO) issued in compliance with subsection 4 of North Dakota Century Code section 39-03.1-11.
History: Effective October 1, 1991.
General Authority: NDCC 39-03.1-14.2
Law Implemented: NDCC 39-03.1-14.2
### § 71-05-08-02. Qualified domestic relations orders procedures.

1. Upon receipt of a proposed domestic relations order, the public employees retirement system
shall send an initial notice to each person named therein, including the member and the
alternate payee named in the order, together with an explanation of the procedures followed
by the fund.
2. If a member who is not in pay status at the time the proposed domestic relations order, or
notice of intent to submit a proposed domestic relations order, was received from the member,
the member's legal representative, or an individual authorized to receive confidential
information under subsection 8 of North Dakota Century Code section 39-03.1-28, makes
application for a lump sum distribution due to termination of employment, the application for
lump sum distribution will be held until such time as the proposed domestic relations order is
determined to be qualified and a certified copy of such order is received at the North Dakota
public employees retirement system office or until the end of the eighteen-month review
period, or until the North Dakota public employees retirement system office receives notice
that a proposed domestic relations order will not be submitted, whichever occurs first.
3. Upon receipt of a domestic relations order, the public employees retirement system shall
review the domestic relations order to determine if it is a qualified order as established by the
model language format specified by the board.
4. The domestic relations order shall be considered a qualified order when the executive director
notifies the parties the order is approved and a certified copy of the court order has been
submitted to the office.
5. If the order becomes qualified, the executive director shall:
a. Send notice to all persons named in the order and any representatives designated in
writing by such person that a determination has been made that the order is a qualified
domestic relations order.
b. Comply with the terms of the order.
6. a. If the order is determined not to be a qualified domestic relations order or a determination
cannot be made as to whether the order is qualified or not qualified within eighteen
months of receipt of such order, the public employees retirement system shall send
written notification of termination of review to all parties at least forty-five days prior to the
end of the eighteen-month review period. At the end of the eighteen-month review period,
the proposed order is deemed to be withdrawn and of no legal effect.

b. If a member who was not in pay status at the time the proposed domestic relations order
was received made application for a lump sum distribution due to termination of eligible
employment, the application for lump sum distribution will be processed at the end of the
eighteen-month review period.
c. If determined after the expiration of the eighteen-month period the order is a qualified
domestic relations order, the qualified domestic relations order must be applied
prospectively only.
History: Effective October 1, 1991; amended effective July 1, 1994; July 1, 2006; April 1, 2012; April 1,
2014.
General Authority: NDCC 39-03.1-06
Law Implemented: NDCC 39-03.1-14.2
