(1) (a) Survivor benefits may become payable if the deceased person was:
A member who had earned at least one year of service credit; except that such oneyear service requirement shall be waived if the death of the member was job-incurred; or
An inactive member who had earned at least one year but less than five years ofservice credit with at least six months of the service credit earned within three years immediately preceding death and the board finds that the inactive member died from the same illness or injury which caused the termination of employment for such inactive member; or
An inactive member who had earned at least five years of service credit.
(b) For the purposes of this part 9, unless the context otherwise requires, "member" means a deceased member or a deceased inactive member who meets the eligibility requirements for survivor benefits on the date of death of such member.
In the event the member did not meet the service credit requirements specified insubsection (1) of this section, no survivor benefits shall be payable; however, a single payment shall be made to the named beneficiary of such member or, if no named beneficiary exists, to the estate of the member.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this part 9, unless otherwise indicated, survivor payments of DPS members shall be governed by sections 24-51-1735 to 24-51-1746. Pursuant to the portability provisions of part 17 of this article, any frozen accounts shall be treated as inactive and governed by the survivor provisions applicable to the frozen account.
Source: L. 87: Entire article R&RE, p. 1067, § 1, effective July 1. L. 88: (1)(a)(II) amended and (1)(a)(III) added, p. 961, § 11, effective July 1. L. 2009: (3) added, (SB 09-282), ch. 288, p. 1346, § 38, effective January 1, 2010.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former §§ 24-51-117, 24-51-217, 24-51-612, and 24-51-803 as they existed prior to 1987. For a detailed comparison, see the comparative tables located in the back of the index.