Family Law Orders

A Family Law Order, or FLO, allows a court to direct TRS to distribute a portion of a member's retirement benefit or account balance to an ex-spouse, who is known as the Alternate Payee. This is done via a Family Law Order, or FLO.

• TRS Fact Sheet: Family Law Orders

As explained in the Fact Sheet, a FLO must comply with all applicable law and must be approved by TRS before it is effective on the TRS member or retiree's account.

Each FLO must be submitted on a form provided by TRS (see below). Choose the form that fits the member's current status and the benefit that will be payable to the Alternate Payee under the terms of the FLO.

• Note: TRS FLO forms may not be modified other than to complete the appropriate fillable fields.

If the TRS member does not yet receive a monthly retirement benefit, one of the following FLOs will apply:

FLO Form A 

• FLO "A" applies if an actuarially equivalent benefit will be payable for the Alternate Payee's lifetime.

FLO Form B 

• FLO "B" applies if a fixed amount (not a lifetime benefit) will be payable to the Alternate Payee.

If the TRS member already receives a monthly TRS retirement benefit, one of the following FLOs will apply, depending upon the benefit allowance elected by the member and other factors outlined below.

FLO Form C 

• FLO "C" applies if the retiree elected the Normal Form benefit (single life annuity) at retirement.

FLO Form D  

• FLO "D" applies if the retiree elected Joint and Survivor Annuity Option A, B, C, D, or E and the Alternate Payee is the Joint Annuitant.

FLO Form E

• FLO "E" applies if the retiree elected Joint and Survivor Annuity option A, B, C, D, or E and the Alternate Payee is not the Joint Annuitant.

FLO Form F

• FLO "F" applies if the retiree elected a 10- or 20- year Period Certain and Life benefit at retirement.