86.283. Death benefits of retired member--dependents' allowances--cost-of-living adjustment. - Missouri Statutes

Death benefits of retired member--dependents'allowances--cost-of-living adjustment.

86.283. Upon receipt of proper proofs of the death of a retiredmember who retired while in service, including retirement for service,ordinary disability or accidental disability, and provided no otherbenefits are payable from the retirement system, there shall be paid thefollowing benefits:

(1) Effective October 1, 1999, a pension to the surviving spouseuntil the surviving spouse dies or remarries, whichever is earlier, offorty percent of the deceased member's average final compensation plusfifteen percent of such compensation to, or for the benefit of, eachunmarried dependent child of the deceased member, who is either under theage of eighteen, or who, regardless of age, is totally and permanentlymentally or physically disabled and incapacitated from engaging in againful occupation sufficient to support himself or herself;

(2) Any surviving spouse or unmarried dependent child receivingbenefits pursuant to this section immediately prior to October 1, 1999,shall upon application to the board of trustees be made, constituted,appointed and employed by the board of trustees as a special consultant onthe problems of retirement, aging and other matters while the survivingspouse or unmarried dependent child is receiving such benefits, and uponrequest of the board of trustees shall give opinions in writing or orallyin response to such requests as may be required. Beginning October 1,1999, for such services as may be required, a surviving spouse shallreceive additional monthly compensation equal to the amount which whenadded to the benefits the surviving spouse was receiving pursuant to thissection prior to October 1, 1999, determined without regard to any increaseapplied to such benefits prior to October 1, 1999, pursuant to subdivision(8) of this section, will increase the surviving spouse's total monthlypayment pursuant to this section to forty percent of the deceased member'saverage final compensation, and there shall be payable an additionalmonthly compensation of one hundred dollars or five percent of the member'saverage final compensation, whichever is greater, for each unmarrieddependent child of the member. The additional monthly compensation payableto a surviving spouse pursuant to this subdivision shall be adjusted forany cost-of-living increases that apply to the benefit the surviving spousewas receiving prior to October 1, 1999;

(3) If no surviving spouse benefits are payable pursuant tosubdivisions (1) and (2) of this section, such total pension as would havebeen paid pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section had therebeen a surviving spouse, determined without regard to any increase whichwould have applied to the surviving spouse's benefits pursuant tosubdivision (8) of this section, shall be divided among the unmarrieddependent children under age eighteen and unmarried dependent children,regardless of age, who are totally and permanently mentally or physicallydisabled and incapacitated from engaging in a gainful occupation sufficientto support themselves. The benefit shall be divided equally among theeligible dependent children, and the share of a child who is no longereligible shall be divided equally among the remaining eligible dependentchildren; provided that not more than one-half of the surviving spouse'sbenefits shall be paid for one child;

(4) No benefits pursuant to this section shall be paid to a childover eighteen years of age who is totally and permanently disabled if suchchild is a patient or resident of a public-supported institution, nor shallsuch benefits be paid unless such disability occurred prior to such childreaching the age of eighteen;

(5) Whenever any dependent child designated by the board of trusteesto receive benefits pursuant to this section is in the care of thesurviving spouse of the deceased member, such benefits may be paid to suchsurviving spouse for the child;

(6) In the event of the death of a retired member receivingaccidental disability benefits before such benefits have been paid for fiveyears, the member's surviving spouse until the surviving spouse dies orremarries, whichever is earlier, shall receive an additional pension of tenpercent of the deceased member's final average compensation;

(7) Any benefit payable to, or for the benefit of, a child orchildren under the age of eighteen years pursuant to subdivisions (1) to(3) of this section shall continue to be paid beyond the age of eighteenyears through the age of twenty-two years if the child is a full-timestudent at a regularly accredited college, business school, nursing school,school for technical or vocational training, or university, but suchextended benefit shall cease whenever the child ceases to be a student. Acollege or university shall be deemed to be regularly accredited whichmaintains membership in good standing in a national or regional accreditingagency recognized by any state college or university;

(8) The benefits payable pursuant to this section to the survivingspouse of a retired member who received or was entitled to receive aservice retirement allowance shall be increased in the same percentages andpursuant to the same method as is provided in section 86.253 foradjustments in the service retirement allowance of a retired member.

(L. 1957 p. 256 § 25-A, A.L. 1961 p. 208, A.L. 1963 p. 137, A.L. 1965 p. 201, A.L. 1967 p. 163, A.L. 1969 p. 154, A.L. 1969 3d Ex. Sess. H.B. 17, A.L. 1972 S.B. 570, A.L. 1977 H.B. 53, A.L. 1979 H.B. 850, A.L. 1993 S.B. 250, A.L. 1995 H.B. 260, et al., A.L. 1999 S.B. 308 & 314, A.L. 2000 H.B. 1808, A.L. 2005 S.B. 401)