[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 534]

 

                      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.