Change of beneficiary must comply with required procedures

A wife, a retired teacher, designated her husband as the beneficiary of her “optional annuity” from the state teacher retirement system which in effect created a joint and survivor annuity.

State law provided that a beneficiary designation of the retiree’s spouse can be changed only by the notarized consent of the beneficiary or an order of a court “with jurisdiction over the marriage.”

They divorced and while the divorce decree divested the husband of claims to his wife’s retirement benefits, it did not specifically mention the optional annuity.  The wife attempted to change the beneficiary to her son and daughter-in-law, but never obtained a written consent from her ex-husband nor did she attempt to have the divorce court amend the decree to order the change of beneficiary.

The court in Holmes v. Kent, 221 S.W.3d 622 (Tex. 2007), held that the change was ineffective because the only way to change the beneficiary was to comply with the statutory scheme.