104.420. Death before retirement, member or disabled member--surviving spouse to receive benefits--if no qualifying surviving spouse, children's benefits.
Death before retirement, member or disabled member--surviving spouseto receive benefits--if no qualifying surviving spouse, children'sbenefits.
104.420. 1. Unless otherwise provided by law, if a member ordisabled member who has a vested right to a normal annuity dies prior toretirement, regardless of the age of the member at the time of death, themember's or disabled member's surviving spouse, to whom the member ordisabled member was married on the date of the member's death, if any,shall receive the reduced survivorship benefits provided in option 1 ofsection 104.395 calculated as if the member were of normal retirement ageand had retired as of the date of the member's death and had elected option1.
2. If there is no eligible surviving spouse, or when a spouse annuityhas ceased to be payable, the member's or disabled member's eligiblesurviving children under twenty-one years of age shall receive monthly, inequal shares, an amount equal to eighty percent of the member's or disabledmember's accrued annuity calculated as if the member or disabled memberwere of a normal retirement age and retired as of the date of death.Benefits otherwise payable to a child under eighteen years of age shall bepayable to the surviving parent as natural guardian of such child if suchparent has custody or assumes custody of such minor child, or to the legalguardian of such child, until such child attains age eighteen; thereafter,the benefit may be paid to the child until age twenty-one; provided the agetwenty-one maximum shall be extended for any child who has been foundtotally incapacitated by a court of competent jurisdiction.
3. No benefit is payable pursuant to this section if no eligiblesurviving spouse or children under twenty-one years of age survive themember or disabled member. Benefits cease pursuant to this section whenthere is no eligible surviving beneficiary through either death of theeligible surviving spouse or through either death or the attainment oftwenty-one years of age by the eligible surviving children. If themember's or disabled member's surviving children are receiving equal sharesof the benefit described in subsection 2 of this section, and one or moreof such children become ineligible by reason of death or the attainment oftwenty-one years of age, the benefit shall be reallocated so that theremaining eligible children receive equal shares of the total benefit asdescribed in subsection 2 of this section.
4. For the purpose of computing the amount of an annuity payablepursuant to this section, if the board finds that the death was the naturaland proximate result of a personal injury or disease arising out of and inthe course of the member's actual performance of duty as an employee, thenthe minimum annuity to such member's surviving spouse or, if no survivingspouse benefits are payable, the minimum annuity that shall be dividedamong and paid to such member's surviving children shall be fifty percentof the member's final average compensation; except that for members of thegeneral assembly and statewide elected officials with twelve or more yearsof service, the monthly rate of compensation in effect on the date of deathshall be used in lieu of final average compensation. The vesting servicerequirement of subsection 1 of this section shall not apply to any annuitypayable pursuant to this subsection.
(L. 1984 H.B. 1370, A.L. 1988 H.B. 1643 & 1399, A.L. 1989 H.B. 674, A.L. 1992 S.B. 499, et al., A.L. 1994 H.B. 1149, A.L. 1997 H.B. 356, A.L. 1999 S.B. 308 & 314, A.L. 2000 H.B. 1808, A.L. 2001 S.B. 371)