Active Employees
At least four (4) months before you plan to retire, you should contact your human resources office, or if your agency has been centralized your HR office will direct you to contact the retirement centralization team at the Office of Pensions, to begin the application process. Once notified, the human resources office of your organization or the retirement centralization team begins the process of verifying service by initiating an electronic Pension Application (PenApp). The Office of Pensions verifies your service and sends a confirmation email back to the human resources department or retirement centralization team after creditable service is confirmed. Your organization’s human resources office or retirement centralization team then contacts you to complete the necessary paperwork. Once the pension application is signed and notarized, the pension application and required documents are forwarded to the Office of Pensions.

Vested (terminated employees)
Three months prior to the vested pension effective date a member of our office will send a locate letter to a researched address. You must return the completed letter to the Office of Pensions so we can update your address and contact information on file. You may also call our office at (302)739-4208 to confirm contact details such as address, phone number, and email address. Once we receive a response to the locate letter, we then send out the pension packet which includes forms and instructions as to what personal documents we will need. If all documents are returned, we calculate your pension and add you to payroll. If the forms and documents are not returned, you will receive notice from our office and eventually the file will be closed if documents are not returned by the deadline provided.

The Office of Pensions requires different documents depending on the circumstances of your retirement. Usually, the following documents are needed:

• Birth Verification(s), Marriage Verification(s), Death Verification(s) and Divorce Decree(s), as applicable.
• A federally compliant driver’s license or a federally compliant identification card may be used in lieu of the birth verification or name change document.
• Social Security Card of member, spouse and eligible dependent(s).
• Medicare Card showing Parts A and B coverage for member, spouse and dependent(s) who are enrolled in Medicare.
• Additional documents may be required depending on individual cases.