CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION
  
 

Your decision to retire will be based on your individual plans and goals. However, there are two decisions all prospective retirees make that warrant thoughtful consideration.

1. You must review your choice of beneficiary.

Your beneficiary is the person who may receive benefits from your retirement plan upon your death.
If you are married, or in a registered domestic partnership, by law, your beneficiary is your spouse or registered domestic partner. If you wish to change this to someone else, you must file a Spousal/Domestic Partner Waiver form.
If you choose the Unmodified Option, or Option 1, you may change your beneficiary any time you wish, throughout your retirement. If you choose Option 2 or 3, you may NOT change your beneficiary, even if the named person dies before you.
You may rescind your application to retire any time during the retirement process. However, your retirement is irrevocable* after you have cashed your first retirement check.
Your final retirement benefit calculation is processed after your employer has issued your final check, in order to capture an accurate final average salary.
31782.
*Irrevocable means you can never change your decision, no matter what happens in the future.
2. You must choose a retirement benefit "option."

The 1937 Act has four options (methods of disbursing your retirement benefit payments). Your option choice is an irrevocable* decision, so you must understand the options completely before making this crucial choice. CCCERA will send you information on these choices when we receive your Application to Retire.

Retirement Options
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