Processing Service Credit Purchases
Forms and Publications for State Police Human Resource staff
Defined Benefit Plan Information
Defined Contribution Plan Information
Defined Contribution New Hire Information
Defined Contribution Transfer Information
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Judges Appointed or Newly Elected on or after March 30, 1997: These judges may only participate in the State DC plan at 100% of their State judicial salary.
Judges who Transferred from DB to DC: Plan 3 Circuit, District and Probate judges who elected to transfer from the State DB plan to the State DC plan had the opportunity to participate at the same level for which they participated in the DB plan or transfer at 100% of their State judicial salary. Plan 3 DB for information regarding the level of participation in the DB plan.
Plan 5 District Court judges (36th District Court) could only transfer to the State DC plan at 100% of their State judicial salary.
Plan 6 and 7 (Probate Judges) could only transfer to the State DC plan at 100% of their State judicial salary.
Some members of the Judges Retirement System (JRS) participated in plan 3 under the DB plan and transferred to the State of Michigan DC plan at the same salary participation level (plan 3 participation salary). Salary previously included under JRS must be deducted from the salary used to compute retirement benefits under a local retirement plan. Salary standardization converted to JRS for retirement purposes must be deducted from local supplementary salary reported to a local retirement plan.
Following the separation of a DC participant, a local plan administrator requests a salary certification from the Office of Retirement Services (ORS). ORS then certifies the portion of the member's local salary attributed to the State DC plan. The salary certification is sent to the local plan administrator for completion. For a sample DC salary certification click here.
If the combined final average salary used by the local retirement plan and the JRS salary for the State DC plan exceeds the member's total judicial salary at time of retirement, the final average salary applicable to the local plan must be reduced.
Participation in Local Retirement Plan, 401(k) and 457 Deferred Compensation Plans:
Judges who elected to transfer from the State Defined Benefit (DB) plan to the State DC plan at 100% of their total judicial salary are prohibited from participating in a local unit of government's retirement plan for simultaneous service rendered to the same public sector employer except for health care purposes. This includes participation in local 401(k) and 457 deferred compensation plans.
Judges who elected to transfer from the State DB plan to the State DC plan on only a portion of their judicial salary, (Base Pay, Base pay plus Supplemental or Base Pay plus Maximum Supplemental), may participate in the local unit of government's retirement plan.
Visiting Judge Assignments (Transfers from Defined Benefit Plan)
Section 226 of the Revised Judicature Act, P.A. 236 of 1961, provides for compensation of visiting judges at a daily rate computed from the following:
The difference between 1/250th of the annual salary paid for the judicial office during the time the retired judge serves in the office and 1/250th of the State retirement allowance paid to the retired judge during the time the retired judge serves in the office.
This visiting judge formula applies to DC participants who transferred from the DB plan. These judges transferred the actuarial present value (APV) of their monthly retirement pension under the Defined Benefit Plan. Contact ORS to obtain the amount of straight life benefit used to calculate their APV, then apply this amount to the visiting judge formula.
Example: Separated circuit judge works one day in March 2001 in 3rd Circuit. Judge transferred to State DC plan before separation. ORS reports that APV was computed from a monthly straight life benefit of $4,613.00. Current total judicial salary for circuit court judges is $135,966.00.
Expressed as a daily rate, active circuit court judges get $543.86 per day, based upon a year with 250 working days.
Annual benefit under DB plan was $55,356.00 ($4,613.00 x 12 months), or $221.42 per day, based upon a year with 250 working days.
| Active circuit - daily rate | 543.86 |
| Pension - daily rate | -221.42 |
| Visiting judge rate | 322.44 |