Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...otherwise have enhanced either marital assets or the marital standard of living and, therefore, are marital property. Id. at 267 (quoting Majauskas v. Majauskas, 61 N.Y.2d 481, 474 N.Y.S.2d 699, 704-05, 463 N.E.2d 15, 20-21 (1984)) (emphasis added). Section 121.011(3)(d), Florida Statutes (1989), which originally took effect July 1, 1974, furnishes further support for our conclusion that it is the public policy of this state that nonvested retirement pensions are no longer considered gratuities...

...Fleetwood Hotel, Inc., 261 So.2d 801 (Fla.1972), establishes a constitutional principle that is separate from the doctrine of preemption. [5] The only statute Lowe cites which defines "dependent" is section 627.6699(3)(g), Florida Statutes (1999). Lowe also cites to an outdated version of section 121.011 and section 627.5575, Florida Statutes (1999), which do not define dependents, but which identify the classes of persons for whom a group life insurance policy may be extended to insure.

...The FRS accepted appellant's contributions and annually sent him a statement of his account. The order sought to be reviewed finds that appellant's credit with prior State retirement plans was accepted by FRS and that his participation in FRS vested as of January 1, 1974. Section 121.011(3)(b), Florida Statutes, provides that the rights of members of FRS are of a contractual nature, entered into between the member and the State, that they are legally enforceable as valid contract rights, and that they may not be abridged in any way....

...nt officers, received a "special risk credit" as an extra benefit. Before July 1, 1974, the credit equaled two percent of the officers' average monthly income. (3) Effective July 1, 1974, the legislature enacted a "preservation of rights" provision, section 121.011(3)(d), providing: The rights of members of the retirement system established by this chapter shall not be impaired by virtue of the conversion of the Florida Retirement System to an employee noncontributory system....

...fied as section 121.091(1)(a), .091(11), Florida Statutes (1979)), reducing prospectively the special risk credit from three to two percent. Appellants commenced this action in circuit court, contending that the "preservation of rights" provision of section 121.011(3)(d), enacted in 1974, elevated Florida's retirement system to a binding contractual *1035 relationship between employees and the state....

...inding contractual relationship between employees and the state. By this act, the employees urge, the legislature agreed that it would not abridge those rights by unilateral action at any future time. Appellants base their argument upon that part of section 121.011(3)(d) which states: "[T]he rights of members of the retirement system established by this chapter are declared to be of a contractual nature entered into between the member and the state and such rights shall be legally enforceable as...

...tributions to the FRS and that the amendments were not enacted to make the FRS actuarially sound but were intended to respond to the State’s projected budget shortfall. With this factual backdrop, and relying primarily on the language contained in section 121.011(3)(d), Florida Statutes (1974), a provision known as the “preservation of rights” statute, the circuit court held that the rights of the members of the FRS to the noncontributory retirement plan with a COLA, which was in effect pr...

...As of July 1, 1974, the rights of members of the retirement system established by this chapter are declared to be of a contractual nature, entered into between the member and the state, and such rights shall be legally enforceable as valid contract rights and shall not be abridged in any way. See § 121.011(3)(d), Fla. Stat. (1974); § 121.011(3)(d), Fla....

...225, 231 (1929). Thus, our ruling today expresses no view as to the wisdom, policy, or motives behind the challenged statutory provisions. Our decision turns in significant part on determining if the contract rights granted by the preservation of rights statute, section 121.011(3)(d), include the right to a continuing noncontributory retirement plan with a COLA for those employees who were members of the FRS prior to July 1, 2011, and whether those rights, if any, have been impaired in violation of the Florida Constitution by the challenged amendments....

...mployment for those persons employed prior to the amendments who continue their employment after the amendments. Thus, the challengers contend, the rights to a noncontributory plan and to a continuing COLA were part of the contract established under section 121.011, Florida Statutes (1974), as it has been continually enacted, and are rights to be honored over the life of their employment with the State....

...Those provisions reduced, prospectively, the special-risk credit that the members would earn toward retirement from 3% to 2%. The plaintiffs in Florida Sheriffs contended that the Legislature was contractually bound to the three percent credit by its prior enactment of the preservation of rights provision in section 121.011(3)(d), Florida Statutes (1974)....

...ing contractual relationship between employees and the State, thereby contractually barring the State from reducing the special-risk credit for those employees. See id. at 1034-35 . As noted earlier, the preservation of rights provision contained in section 121.011(3)(d), provides in pertinent part that “[a]s of July 1, 1974, the rights of members of the retirement system established by this chapter are declared to be of a contractual nature, entered into between the member and the state, and such rights shall be legally enforceable as valid contract rights and shall not be abridged in any way.” § 121.011(3)(d), Fla....

...sary amendments to its rules and ordinances in accord with the agreement). . The following Florida statutes were amended, in pertinent part, by the sections of chapter 2011-68, Laws of Florida, held here to be constitutional; Section 5 amending *391 § 121.011, Fla....

...3d DCA 1990) (holding that employee’s benefits vested when he reached normal retirement date and he was entitled to terms of act in effect at time of vesting); see also Fla. Sheriffs Ass’n v. Dep’t of Admin., Div. of Ret., 408 So.2d 1033 (Fla.1981) (holding that because of preservation of rights provision of section 121.011(3)(d), Florida Statutes, all rights and benefits already earned under retirement plan vest such that Legislature may only alter retirement benefits prospectively)....

...pension. The rights of members of the FRS “are declared to be of a contractual nature, entered into between the member and the state, and such rights shall be legally enforceable as valid contract rights and shall not be abridged in any way.” § 121.011(3)(d), Fla....

...Butterworth Attorney General RAB/tls 1 This office has been advised that for senior management employees of the authority, $7,500 is paid into a deferred compensation plan, while the authority matches contributions made by all other employees. 2 See, Ops. Att'y Gen. Fla. 73-383 (1973) and 73-480 (1973). 3 See, section 121.011 (3)(b)1., Florida Statutes, providing that an eligible member of a retirement plan established by local or special act or municipal ordinance electing to transfer to the Florida Retirement System "shall be transferred to the Florida Retirement System ....

...from removing Appellant as the beneficiary of his retirement account during Appellant’s lifetime. However, the QDRO did not and could not change benefits accrued under section 121.091(6)(a)2., including the ten-year window for a survivor benefit elected by the former husband. See § 121.011(3)(d), Fla. Stat....

...According to the trial court, “Mother presented no evidence that [her retirement benefit] payments are, in fact, mandatory.” Yet it is undisputed that Mother is a teacher employed by the Brevard County school system; therefore, these payments are mandatory by law. § 121.011(3)(h), Fla....

...Price, 182 So. 3d 782, 782 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015). 4 mandatory.” Yet it is undisputed that Mother is a teacher employed by the Brevard County school system; therefore, these payments are mandatory by law. § 121.011(h), Fla....

employed by BSO as deputy sheriffs. Pursuant to section 121.011(3)(b)2., Florida Statutes, all former Pompano

...nder certain conditions, for retirement at an earlier age than “regular members” 2 and entitling them to a “special risk credit” as an extra benefit. 3 Effective July 1, 1974, the Legislature enacted a “preservation of rights” provision, Section 121.011(3)(d), Florida Statutes, providing: (d) The rights of members of the retirement system established by this chapter shall not be impaired by virtue of the conversion of the Florida Retirement System to an employee noncontributory system....

the effect of the legislature’s enactment of Section 121.011(3)(f), Florida Statutes (1979). The Retirement

...Stat., the Florida Retirement System Act, which consolidated existing retirement systems (including Chapter 122), became effective. The Act provided that officers or employees of the state or its subdivisions employed after December 1, 1970, would not be eligible for membership in SCOERS (§ 121.011(2)(a), Fla.Stat. (1977)), that Chapters 122 and 238 were consolidated into Chapter 121 and that administration of those chapters was to be under Chapter 121. Section 121.011(2)(b). Section 121.011(3)(a) provided that rights of individuals, as petitioner, who were members of existing retirement systems, would not be impaired and their benefits under Chapters 122, 238 or 321 could not be .reduced, due to the enactment of Chapter 121, “except that if an eligible member of a retirement system ....

chronology of case law, the court held that Fla.Stat. § 121.-011(3)(d), the preservation of rights statute, ‘vest[ed]