[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR295.6]

[Page 515]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
                  CHAPTER II--RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
 
PART 295_PAYMENTS PURSUANT TO COURT DECREE OR COURT-APPROVED PROPERTY 
SETTLEMENT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 295.6  Disclosure of information.

    (a) Immunity from process. The provision for the payment of benefits 
under this part pursuant to a court decree or property settlement shall 
not be construed to be a waiver of the sovereign immunity of the 
Railroad Retirement Board as an agency of the U.S. Government. The Board 
may not be joined in a suit for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal 
separation, or otherwise subjected to the jurisdiction of any state 
court. Subpoenas, notices of joinder, interrogatories, orders for 
production of documents, and like state process issued in connection 
with a suit for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation will 
be treated as requests for disclosure of information under this section.
    (b) Request for information. A response to request for information 
to be used in connection with a suit for divorce, dissolution, annulment 
or legal separation may be made by the Deputy General Counsel or his or 
her designee, by the Associate Executive Director for Retirement Claims, 
or by a contact representative of the Board's field service.
    (c) Information available. In the absence of signed authorization 
from the employee, a spouse or former spouse who is a party to a suit 
for divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation, or his or her 
legal representative, may be furnished the amount of benefits the 
employee is currently receiving. If the employee is not currently 
entitled to benefits, the Board may furnish the amount of any estimated 
benefit to which the employee would be entitled if he or she were of 
retirement age at the time of the request, as reflected by the records 
of the Board, to the extent it is possible for the Board to compute such 
amount. The Board shall not be required to furnish the present value of 
future benefits, the amount of benefits payable at a future date, or any 
other computations based on statistics or procedures not maintained by 
the Board in the normal course of administration of the Act.
    (d) Certification. A letter or statement prepared by a Board 
official in the regular course of duty from the official records of the 
Board, which refers to the authority of this section and bears his or 
her signature, shall be a sufficient response for purposes of 
discharging the responsibilities of the Board under this section. A 
certification in accordance with this section may be considered a public 
document for purposes of admissibility as evidence of present or 
potential benefits under the Act for use in a divorce, dissolution, 
annulment or legal separation proceeding.