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SERS members have recently been targeted by a variety of phishing scams, including emails, phone calls, and text messages that attempt to impersonate or imply affiliation with SERS.

Emails
The fraudulent emails may provide links, including DocuSign, and allege to provide the member with the option to sign up and receive their monthly SERS benefit payments four days early by providing personal financial information, including bank account information.  SERS does not offer an early benefit payment option or request personal or banking information by email or use of DocuSign.  Please note that our emails are always sent from an srs.illinois.gov email address.

Phone calls and Text messages
Several members have recently reported receiving unsolicited phone calls and text messages from individuals claiming to be associated with SERS.  These individuals initially contact the member by phone call or text message and attempt to set up counseling appointments with the member, generally through a follow-up email and/or text message.  These phone calls have been received on State landlines and State issued cell phones.  SERS does not contract with anyone outside of the agency to contact members about retirement counseling appointments or other financial services. SERS does not cold call members for retirement consultations, and only schedules retirement counseling appointments at the request of the member.

If you receive a suspicious email, call, or text message that purports to be SERS that you suspect is a scam, please report this activity to the SERS call center at 217-785-7444. Information that you provide can help SERS prevent and detect schemes that impact our members. 

QILDRO Information

SERS QILDRO Handbook & Forms

The following information and forms are designed to assist members, alternate payees, and legal representatives when retirement benefits are being considered for possible division in divorce proceedings. Qualified Illinois Domestic Relations Orders (QILDROs) are court orders that direct SERS to pay a portion of a member’s retirement benefit or refund to an alternate payee, typically a former spouse. QILDROs are issued under the Illinois Pension Code, 40 ILCS 5/1-119. This subject matter may have a considerable financial impact. It is strongly recommended that individuals obtain competent legal and /or other expert assistance. This information is provided with the understanding that SERS is not rendering legal, financial, or other professional advice. SERS does not assume responsibility for the specific consequences resulting from application of this information.

The SERS QILDRO handbook explains QILDRO in detail and is available at the link below. The alternate payee’s share of the benefit or refund may be expressed in dollar amounts or in percentages. If the QILDRO uses percentages, a second court order — the Calculation Order — will be necessary to tell SERS how much to pay the alternate payee. The Calculation Order may be submitted once the amount of the retirement benefit or refund is known. This two-step process may be useful when divorce occurs before the member retires.

The QILDRO allows lump-sum death benefits to be allocated to the alternate payee. Monthly survivor benefits cannot be allocated through a QILDRO.

SERS has policies and procedures in place to protect your Social Security number (SSN). The QILDRO law mandates inclusion of SSNs in QILDRO and Calculation Orders for tax reporting associated with payment of benefits and refunds. If SSNs are omitted from the court order, you must provide complete SSNs in an accompanying Notice of Confidential Information Within Court Filing form accessible on this page. Complete SSNs are always required in the Consent to Issuance of QILDRO.

Below are links for the QILDRO Handbook, QILDRO Consent form, QILDRO Order, QILDRO Calculation Order, QILDRO Notice of Confidential Information and the QILDRO Brochure. The forms may be completed online, printed for signatures, and submitted to SERS for processing. When you click in the first fill-in field on a form and complete that field, you should then hit the tab key to advance to the next field on the form.

These are the only forms that will be accepted by SERS.

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SERS Contact Information

2101 S. Veterans Parkway
Springfield, IL 62704
Phone: 217-785-7444
Fax: 217-785-7019
Email SERS

Helpful Links

JRS/GARS Contact Info

2101 S. Veterans Parkway
Springfield, IL 62704
Phone: 217-782-8500
Fax: 217-524-9039
Email JRS
Email GARS

FOR JRS/GARS MEMBERS ONLY
JRS/GARS representatives do not have the ability or authorization to access SERS member data, or to assist SERS members.