Updated October 22, 2026. Quick answer: The KPERS retirement application booklet (6/26) says a spouse or former spouse who receives a KPERS payment under a QDRO generally has the same options and tax treatment the member would have, and that payments under the QDRO are not subject to the 10% additional tax on early distributions. The booklet says nothing about how KPERS divides a benefit.
What this covers
The booklet’s tax notice has a paragraph that begins “Payments under a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO).” This page quotes it and the related exception. The booklet covers KPERS, KP&F and Judges, so this is the tax notice for all three. 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 |
|---|---|
| Who is covered | “If you are the spouse or former spouse of the member who receives a payment from KPERS under a QDRO, you generally have the same options and the same tax treatment that the member would have (for example, you may roll over the payment to your own IRA or an eligible employer plan that will accept it).” |
| The 10% additional tax | “However, payments under the QDRO won’t be subject to the 10% additional tax on early distributions.” |
| Where the exception appears | “Payments made under a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO);” |
| Moving it to an IRA later | “The exception for payments made pursuant to a QDRO under a plan doesn’t apply to an IRA (although a special rule applies under which, as part of a divorce or separation agreement, a tax-free transfer may be made directly to an IRA of a spouse or former spouse); and” |
| Where to read more | “For more information, see IRS Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals.” |
Divorce and the option you choose at retirement
Divorce touches the retirement choice itself. The application says of the joint-survivor option, “Your joint annuitant cannot be changed later.” and “Kansas law does not allow you to change this option after your retirement date.” The statute is not quite that absolute after a divorce. K.S.A. 74-4918(1) says that if a retirant “is divorced after the retirant’s date of actual retirement” and named the ex-spouse as a joint annuitant, the option “may be canceled and retirant’s benefit returned to the maximum amount of such retirant’s retirement benefit” once the district court of the county where the divorce action was filed orders the cancellation. For the broader divorce questions, see divorce and your money.
What the booklet does not say
It does not say what a QDRO must contain, how KPERS divides a benefit, or what a former spouse must file. For the order itself, see what a QDRO must say. 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
- Reading the tax paragraph as a division rule. The booklet states the tax treatment of a QDRO payment and nothing about how the order divides the benefit.
- Assuming the exception follows the money to an IRA. The booklet says “The exception for payments made pursuant to a QDRO under a plan doesn’t apply to an IRA”
- Assuming a former spouse has no options. The booklet says the spouse or former spouse “generally have the same options and the same tax treatment that the member would have”
Related: KPERS retirement decisions, public pension retirement decisions, and what a QDRO must say.
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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, Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 410, Pensions and annuities: 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.