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CourtListener opinion 9975141

Date unknown · US

Extracted case name
pending
Extracted reporter citation
pending
Docket / number
pending
QDRO relevance 5/5Retirement relevance 5/5Family-law relevance 5/5gold label pending
Research-use warning: This page contains machine-draft public annotations generated from public opinion text. The headnote is not Willie-approved gold-label work product and is not legal advice. Verify the full opinion and current law before relying on it.

Machine-draft headnote

Machine-draft public headnote: CourtListener opinion 9975141 is included in the LexyCorpus QDRO sample set as a public CourtListener opinion with relevance to pension / defined benefit issues. The current annotation is conservative: it identifies source provenance, relevance signals, and evidence quotes for attorney/agent retrieval. It is not a Willie-approved legal headnote yet.

Retrieval annotation

Draft retrieval summary: this opinion has QDRO relevance score 5/5, retirement-division score 5/5, and family-law score 5/5. Use the quoted text and full opinion below before relying on the case.

Category: pension / defined benefit issues

Evidence quotes

QDRO

at application listed all four retirement options available to the former husband and the benefits, if any, Appellant would receive upon his death. See § 121.091(6)(a)1.–4., Fla. Stat. Appellant's marriage to the former husband was dissolved in 2003 and the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) entered by the court required that Appellant remain the designated beneficiary for purposes of the former husband's FRS retirement benefit. Under the QDRO, the former husband was prohibited from removing Appellant as the beneficiary of his retirement account during Appellant's lifetime. However, the QDRO did not and could not change benefits accrued

retirement benefits

s from the former husband's retirement date. At this point, section 121.091(6)(a)2. no longer provided for any survivor benefits upon the death of the former husband. The former husband died in 2017, more than nineteen years after his retirement date, and the retirement benefits payable to him expired upon his death. Thus, no retirement benefits were payable to Appellant under section 121.091(6)(a)2. The Department did not misinterpret section 121.091 or any administrative rule promulgated to carry out the statute. See § 120.68(7)(d)–(e), Fla. Stat. The agency final action is therefore AFFIRMED. 2 B.L. THOMAS, BILBREY, and

pension

ry ground to set aside the final order, we must affirm. See § 120.68(8), Fla. Stat. (2023). The facts were undisputed. Appellant's former husband retired on July 1, 1998. Under section 121.091(6)(a), Florida Statutes (1998), governing payout options for FRS pension plan retirees, the former husband chose option 2 and named Appellant as his beneficiary. Option 2 provides that a monthly retirement benefit will be paid to the retiree for life, but if the retiree dies during the first ten years after retirement, then the beneficiary receives "the same monthly amount payable for the balance of such 10-year period." § 121.

domestic relations order

tion listed all four retirement options available to the former husband and the benefits, if any, Appellant would receive upon his death. See § 121.091(6)(a)1.–4., Fla. Stat. Appellant's marriage to the former husband was dissolved in 2003 and the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) entered by the court required that Appellant remain the designated beneficiary for purposes of the former husband's FRS retirement benefit. Under the QDRO, the former husband was prohibited from removing Appellant as the beneficiary of his retirement account during Appellant's lifetime. However, the QDRO did not and could not change benefits accrued

Source and provenance

Source type
courtlistener_qdro_opinion_full_text
Permissions posture
public
Generated status
machine draft public v0
Review status
gold label pending
Jurisdiction metadata
US
Deterministic extraction
pending
Generated at
May 14, 2026

Related public corpus pages

Deterministic links based on shared title/citation terms and QDRO / retirement / family-law retrieval scores.

Clean opinion text

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
 STATE OF FLORIDA
 _____________________________

 No. 1D2023-0708
 _____________________________

AVIS BROWN,

 Appellant,

 v.

STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT
OF MANAGEMENT SERVICES,
DIVISION OF RETIREMENT,

 Appellee.
 _____________________________

On appeal from the Department of Management Services.
Pedro Allende, Secretary.

 May 29, 2024

PER CURIAM.

 Appellant challenges the final order of the Florida
Department of Management Services, Division of Retirement,
finding that Appellant is not entitled to additional retirement
benefit payments from her late former husband's Florida
Retirement System (FRS) account. Because Appellant fails to
establish a statutory ground to set aside the final order, we must
affirm. See § 120.68(8), Fla. Stat. (2023).

 The facts were undisputed. Appellant's former husband
retired on July 1, 1998. Under section 121.091(6)(a), Florida
Statutes (1998), governing payout options for FRS pension plan
 retirees, the former husband chose option 2 and named Appellant
as his beneficiary. Option 2 provides that a monthly retirement
benefit will be paid to the retiree for life, but if the retiree dies
during the first ten years after retirement, then the beneficiary
receives "the same monthly amount payable for the balance of such
10-year period." § 121.091(6)(a)2., Fla. Stat.

 As required by section 121.091(6)(a), Appellant was "notified
of" and "acknowledge[d] such election" made by the former
husband by signing at the appropriate line on her former
husband's FRS application for retirement. That application listed
all four retirement options available to the former husband and
the benefits, if any, Appellant would receive upon his death. See
§ 121.091(6)(a)1.–4., Fla. Stat.

 Appellant's marriage to the former husband was dissolved in
2003 and the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) entered
by the court required that Appellant remain the designated
beneficiary for purposes of the former husband's FRS retirement
benefit. Under the QDRO, the former husband was prohibited
from removing Appellant as the beneficiary of his retirement
account during Appellant's lifetime. However, the QDRO did not
and could not change benefits accrued under section
121.091(6)(a)2., including the ten-year window for a survivor
benefit elected by the former husband. See § 121.011(3)(d), Fla.
Stat. (stating that "the rights of members of the retirement system
established by this chapter are declared to be of a contractual
nature").

 June 2008 was ten years from the former husband's
retirement date. At this point, section 121.091(6)(a)2. no longer
provided for any survivor benefits upon the death of the former
husband. The former husband died in 2017, more than nineteen
years after his retirement date, and the retirement benefits
payable to him expired upon his death. Thus, no retirement
benefits were payable to Appellant under section 121.091(6)(a)2.

 The Department did not misinterpret section 121.091 or any
administrative rule promulgated to carry out the statute. See
§ 120.68(7)(d)–(e), Fla. Stat. The agency final action is therefore

 AFFIRMED.

 2
 B.L. THOMAS, BILBREY, and TANENBAUM, JJ., concur.

 _____________________________

 Not final until disposition of any timely and
 authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
 9.331.
 _____________________________

Antonio G. Hernández of Antonio G Hernández PA, Coral Gables,
for Appellant.

Kristen Larson, General Counsel, James Burkhart, Assistant
General Counsel, and Lee Damessous, Managing Attorney,
Department of Management Services, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

 3