Community Property Rights

New Mexico is a community property state. As such, all property that is acquired during the marriage is divisible upon a divorce.

Contributions to ERA that have been received during the marriage are community property. The Educational Retirement Act protects our members’ contributions from assignments or attachments in a legal process with the exception of community property settlements or child support obligations.

Community property and child support distributions will only occur upon an appropriate court order that is specific to the distribution of an ERA member’s retirement. All court orders are subject to review by the ERB. An acceptable order will become part of the members’ record and the ERB will comply with its direction.

A packet of information is available to those members who request information on their retirement upon a divorce. That packet includes: a statement of the member’s account; a history of the members accumulated quarterly salary and contributions; beneficiary update information; and a summary checklist for the ERB’s review of the court orders. Upon request, model language orders and attorney order are available. The model language orders are proven instructions for drafting an acceptable order for the convenience of our membership and are not required. The ERB will accept any order that complies with the statute and is administratively feasible.

(See sample order dividing ERA benefits.)