Article 5. Payment Of Benefits of California Government Code >> Title 8. >> Chapter 11.5. >> Article 5.

(a) In lieu of the retirement allowance under subdivision (d) of Section 75522 for his or her life alone, a judge who elects to retire with a monthly allowance under subdivision (d) of Section 75522 may elect, or revoke or change a previous election prior to the approval of the previous election, to have the actuarial equivalent of his or her retirement allowance as of the date of retirement applied to a lesser retirement allowance, in accordance with one of the optional settlements specified in Section 75571.
  (b) That election, revocation, or change of election shall be made by a writing filed with the system within 30 calendar days after the making of the first payment on account of any retirement allowance.

(a) Optional settlement one consists of the right to have a retirement allowance paid him or her until his or her death and if he or she dies before he or she receives the amount of his or her accumulated contributions at retirement, to have the balance at death paid to his or her surviving spouse or estate.
  (b) (1) Optional settlement two consists of the right to have a retirement allowance paid him or her until his or her death and thereafter to his or her surviving spouse for life.
  (2) If the judge's spouse predeceases the judge and the judge elected this optional settlement to be effective on or after January 1, 2002, the judge's allowance shall be adjusted effective the first day of the month following the death of the spouse to reflect the benefit that would have been paid had the judge not elected an optional settlement.
  (3) If the marriage of a retired judge is dissolved or annulled or if the retired judge and his or her spouse are legally separated and the judgment dividing their community property awards the total interest in this system to the retired judge, and the retired judge elected this optional settlement to be effective on or after January 1, 2002, the retired judge's allowance shall be adjusted effective the first day of the month following the filing of the judgment with the board to reflect the benefit that would have been paid had the judge not elected an optional settlement.
  (c) (1) Optional settlement three consists of the right to have a retirement allowance paid him or her until his or her death, and thereafter to have one-half of his or her retirement allowance paid to his or her surviving spouse for life.
  (2) If the judge's spouse predeceases the judge and the judge elected this optional settlement to be effective on or after January 1, 2002, the judge's allowance shall be adjusted effective the first day of the month following the death of the spouse to reflect the benefit that would have been paid had the judge not elected an optional settlement.
  (3) If the marriage of a retired judge is dissolved or annulled or if the retired judge and his or her spouse are legally separated and the judgment dividing their community property awards the total interest in this system to the retired judge, and the retired judge elected this optional settlement to be effective on or after January 1, 2002, the retired judge's allowance shall be adjusted effective the first day of the month following the filing of the judgment with the board to reflect the benefit that would have been paid had the judge not elected an optional settlement.
  (d) Optional settlement four consists of other benefits that are the actuarial equivalent of his or her retirement allowance, that he or she may select subject to the approval of the board.

The benefits payable to any person who first becomes a member of this system on or after July 1, 1996, shall not exceed the limitations in Section 401(a) of Title 26 of the United States Code upon public retirement systems, as that section may be amended from time to time and as that limit may be adjusted by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for increases in cost of living. The determination of compensation for each 12-month period shall be subject to the annual compensation limit in effect for that calendar year. In a determination of average annual compensation over more than one 12-month period, the amount of compensation taken into account for each 12-month period shall be subject to the applicable annual compensation limit.

A judge who elects to receive optional settlement two or three may concurrently and irrevocably elect to waive the provision for an increase to his or her allowance, as specified in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 75571, and shall, instead, have his or her allowance based upon the waiver of this benefit.