The board of trustees and director may handle benefit applications and payments for a person through a guardian, attorney in fact, trustee, or other caretaker in specified situations.
Sec. 841.008. APPLICATIONS BY, AND PAYMENTS TO, PERSONS OTHER THAN MEMBERS, BENEFICIARIES, AND ANNUITANTS. (a) The board of trustees may accept an application for any benefit under this subtitle that is signed on behalf of a person entitled to the benefit by: (1) an appointed guardian of the person and estate of the person; or (2) an attorney in fact authorized to act on behalf of the person by a written power of attorney that provides that the power is not revoked by disability of the person, except that an attorney in fact who is not the person's spouse may not select a benefit in which the attorney in fact or a direct ancestor or lineal descendant of the attorney in fact is a named beneficiary, unless the attorney in fact designates as the person's beneficiary: (A) the same individuals, with the same share of the benefit that each would have received if the person had died immediately before the beneficiary designation by the attorney in fact; or (B) all individuals who bear the same relationship to the attorney in fact, with the same share of the benefit that each would have received if the person had died intestate. (b) If it is made to appear to the director by affidavit of a licensed physician that a person entitled to a benefit is not mentally capable of managing the person's own affairs, and if the director reasonably believes that the estate of the person is insufficient to justify the expense of establishing a guardianship, or continuing a guardianship after letters of guardianship have expired, then until current letters of guardianship are filed with the retirement system, the director may make payment of any annuity or other benefit: (1) to the spouse of the person, as trustee for the person; (2) to an individual or entity actually providing for the needs of and caring for the person, as trustee for the person; or (3) to a public agency or private charitable organization providing assistance or services to the aged or incapacitated that agrees to accept and manage the payment for the benefit of the person as a trustee. (c) If requested by the person entitled to the benefit or the guardian, attorney in fact, or trustee of the person, the director may, if the director determines that it is in the best interest of the person entitled to the benefit, make payments directly to the trustee of: (1) a trust described by Subchapter B, Chapter 1301, Estates Code, that has been created for the management of guardianship funds for the benefit of the person; or (2) a trust described by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p(d)(4)(A), (B), or (C) that has been established to qualify the person for benefits or other assistance under a state or federal program or to supplement the benefits or other assistance provided under the program. (c-1) If the director reasonably believes that the individual or entity accepting benefits for the person has breached a fiduciary duty owed to the person or is failing to act in the interest of or for the benefit of the person and the person may suffer personal or financial harm as a result, the retirement system, on giving notice to the individual or entity receiving payments on behalf of the person, may cease making payments to the individual or entity. Thereafter, the system may make payment of any annuity or other benefit in a manner provided by Subsection (b). This subsection does not apply if a court of competent jurisdiction has appointed the individual or entity accepting benefits for the person. (d) The director may require proof of facts used to establish a right under this section by evidence the director determines is satisfactory. Added by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 491, Sec. 2, eff. June 12, 1985. Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, Sec. 51.008 and amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 122, Sec. 2, eff. Dec. 31, 2001. Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 873 (H.B. 1587), Sec. 3, eff. January 1, 2008. Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 324 (S.B. 1488), Sec. 22.042, eff. September 1, 2017.