Section 299A.44 Death Benefit

MINNESOTA STATUTES AND CODES

299A.44 DEATH BENEFIT.

Subdivision 1.Payment required.

(a) On certification to the governor by the commissioner of public safety that a public safety officer employed within this state has been killed in the line of duty, the commissioner of management and budget shall pay $100,000 from the public safety officer's benefit account, as follows:

(1) if there is no dependent child, to the spouse;

(2) if there is no spouse, to the dependent child or children in equal shares;

(3) if there are both a spouse and one or more dependent children, one-half to the spouse and one-half to the child or children, in equal shares;

(4) if there is no surviving spouse or dependent child or children, to the parent or parents dependent for support on the decedent, in equal shares; or

(5) if there is no surviving spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent, to the public safety officer's estate.

(b) If there are both a spouse and one or more dependent children under age 18, the spouse, at the spouse's discretion, may spend a maximum of one-third of a child's share on medical or dental treatment for the child or the child's education. Expenditures under this paragraph on behalf of a child do not diminish the shares of any other children. In addition, a spouse, at the spouse's discretion, may expend money from a child's share to pay state and federal taxes on any interest accrued on the share.

Subd. 2.Adjustment of benefit.

On October 1 of each year beginning after July 1, 1995, the commissioner of public safety shall adjust the level of the benefit payable immediately before October 1 under subdivision 1, to reflect the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, published by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, occurring in the one-year period ending on June 1 immediately preceding such October 1.