Updated October 22, 2026. Quick answer: The KPERS retirement application booklet (6/26), used by KPERS, KP&F and Judges members, offers seven options. Three of them are joint-survivor options at 50%, 75% and 100%, the joint annuitant must be named with proof of age, and the booklet says Kansas law does not allow the option to be changed after the retirement date.
What this covers
The booklet’s Part B is headed “Retirement Benefit Options”. This page quotes it and the spousal consent note. For the wider choices, see KPERS retirement decisions and public pension retirement decisions.
What the booklet says
Each row is the booklet’s own wording.
| Topic | What the booklet says |
|---|---|
| How many options | “Select one of the seven monthly benefit options.” |
| The no-survivor choice | “Mark this box to choose the Maximum Monthly Benefit with no survivor benefits.” |
| The joint-survivor choices | “50% Joint-Survivor Benefit”, “75% Joint-Survivor Benefit” and “100% Joint-Survivor Benefit”. |
| How to choose one | “Mark the corresponding box (#2, #3 or #4) to choose a Joint-Survivor Option.” “Complete all information for your joint annuitant.” |
| Proof the form asks for | “You will need to provide proof of age and all name changes for your joint annuitant.” |
| After you pick | “Your joint annuitant cannot be changed later.” |
| The other choices | “Mark the corresponding box (#5, #6 or #7) to choose a Life-Certain Option.” |
The choice cannot be reopened
“Kansas law does not allow you to change this option after your retirement date.” The member certification repeats it: “I confirm my choice of retirement benefit options, with the understanding that Kansas law does not allow me to change this option after my retirement date.”
The statute behind that rule has one exception, for divorce. K.S.A. 74-4918(1) says that if a retirant “is divorced after the retirant’s date of actual retirement, and the retirant has named the retirant’s ex-spouse as a joint annuitant”, the joint annuitant option “may be canceled and retirant’s benefit returned to the maximum amount of such retirant’s retirement benefit”, starting the first month after the district court orders the cancellation. The retirant “shall not receive a refund or interest of any amounts already paid to fund the original joint annuitant benefit” and may not name a subsequent joint annuitant.
Spousal consent
“Kansas law requires spousal consent if you select a Partial Lump-Sum Option (PLSO) and/or any retirement benefit option that would provide less than one-half of your monthly retirement benefit to your spouse if you die.” “This section must be completed by your spouse if you are married and chose the Maximum Monthly Benefit, a Life-Certain Option and/or a PLSO.” The federal rule behind this kind of consent is on spousal consent to waive a joint and survivor annuity.
KP&F members who also qualify for KPERS
“If you are eligible to retire from more than one plan (for example, KPERS and KP&F), you may mark more than one plan if you are choosing the same retirement options.” “Submit two applications if you wish to choose different retirement options for each plan.”
What the booklet does not say
It does not print the reduction for each joint-survivor option, and it does not say what each percentage pays the survivor in dollars. It sends the reader to the separate Retirement Options publication for those details. For the general trade, see single life versus joint and survivor pensions. Kansas’s tax rules on pension income are on how Kansas taxes retirement income.
Edition
This page reads the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), Retirement Application booklet (6/26), the 6/26 edition of the application booklet. It is one booklet for three systems: the form’s own Part A offers the boxes KPERS, KP&F and Judges. Where a rule is limited to one of them the page says so. The booklet points to a separate Retirement Options publication for each option’s details, which this page does not read, and Kansas law and your own KPERS account control over this summary.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a joint annuitant can be swapped later. The booklet says “Your joint annuitant cannot be changed later.”
- Skipping the documents. The booklet says “You must provide proof of age and all name changes for your joint annuitant.”
- Forgetting the spouse’s signature on a smaller survivor choice. The booklet says “Kansas law requires spousal consent” in the cases it lists.
Related: KPERS retirement decisions, public pension retirement decisions, and single life versus joint and survivor pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), Retirement Application booklet (6/26): www.kpers.org
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions: www.irs.gov
Read from the pension system handbooks linked above on October 22, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a pension system or a qualified professional is the right place to confirm anything consequential.