(a) Death of Member before Retirement. Upon the death of any Member before retirement:
(1) Accumulated Contributions. The Member’s Accumulated Contributions shall be paid to such person or legal entity as the Member shall have nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the Board of Administration or, if there be no such written designation of beneficiary, then to the surviving spouse or Domestic Partner of such deceased Member, or to the Member’s children in the event there be no surviving spouse or Domestic Partner, or to the Member’s parents in the event there be no surviving spouse or Domestic Partner or children. In the event there be no written designation of beneficiary, surviving spouse or Domestic Partner, children or parents, then said Accumulated Contributions shall be paid to the executor or administrator of the estate of such deceased Member, or to any other person or legal entity legally authorized to collect money due the decedent.
(2) Limited Pension. In the event such Member shall have had at least one (1) year of City Service for which the Member is entitled to receive Service Credit, then a limited pension shall be paid as provided herein. The limited pension shall be paid in equal monthly payments of one-half (1/2) of the average monthly Compensation Earnable of such Member during the Member’s last year of service. For each year of service, not to exceed six (6) years, two (2) monthly payments shall be paid, not to exceed a total of twelve (12) monthly payments for six (6) or more years of service. Such limited pension shall be paid to the surviving spouse or Domestic Partner of such deceased Member or to the minor children of such Member, in the event there shall be no surviving spouse or Domestic Partner. The payment to a minor child shall continue beyond the month the child reaches age eighteen (18) if the child was a minor on the date of the Member’s death. In the event there be no surviving spouse or Domestic Partner or minor children, the limited pension shall be paid to the dependent parents of such Member. However, no limited pension shall be paid in the event the Board of Administration, upon investigation and after a hearing in the matter, finds that the death of such Member was due to or resulted from the intemperance or the willful conduct of such Member. In the event any such beneficiary dies before receiving the full amount of such limited pension, the limited pension shall be continued to the persons who, in the order hereinabove set forth, qualify as beneficiaries as of the date of death of the deceased beneficiary and who, within sixty (60) days after such date make demand for payment thereof; provided, however, that in the event no such demand is made within such time, the said limited pension shall be deemed conclusively to have been terminated as of such date of death.
(3) Election of Optional Retirement Allowance when Member Eligible to Retire. In the event a Member was eligible to retire pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.1080.5 and the person or persons entitled to be paid the Member’s limited pension is or are the same person or persons entitled to be paid, against the claims or demands of any and all other persons thereto, the full amount of such Member’s Accumulated Contributions, then the person or persons entitled to be paid both the Member’s limited pension and Accumulated Contributions may, by a written instrument duly executed, acknowledged and filed with the Board of Administration, waive payment of such limited pension and such accumulated contributions and elect to be paid, in lieu thereof, the optional retirement allowance which would have been paid to such Member throughout the Member’s life and continued, upon the Member’s death, throughout the life or lives of such person or persons as the Member’s designated survivor or survivors, had the Member, as of the day preceding the Member’s death, been retired pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.1080.14(a)(1) and designated such person or persons as the Member’s survivor or survivors. In no event shall the benefits of this subsection be payable to any person after the allowance of a limited pension pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, nor shall the limited pension be payable to any person after the allowance of the benefits of this subsection. If any person elects to receive the optional retirement allowance provided in this subsection, no benefits shall be paid from the Family Death Benefit Plan established in Section 4.1090 of this chapter.
The duly appointed, qualified and acting guardian of the estate of a minor child or an incompetent shall make such waiver and election on behalf of such minor child or incompetent.
If a surviving spouse or domestic partner makes the election authorized herein, the annuity portion of the allowance to be paid shall be calculated on the basis of the Member’s normal Accumulated Contributions as opposed to the sum of the Normal Contributions and the Survivor Contributions. The excess of the deceased Member’s total accumulated contributions over the normal Accumulated Contributions at the time of death shall be paid to said surviving spouse or Domestic Partner or, at the option of such survivor, considered as additional contributions made to provide a Larger Annuity benefit.
The deceased Member’s accrued vacation time, or any necessary portion thereof, as defined in Article 1, Chapter 6, Division 4 of this Code or an applicable memorandum of understanding, immediately preceding the day of the Member’s death may be added to their total years of service in order to render the deceased Member eligible to have retired pursuant to Section 4.1005 at the time of death and to ensure their survivor qualifies for the survivorship benefits provided in this subsection. The benefit herein created shall be available at the option of the eligible survivor of the deceased Member. Accrued vacation time of a deceased Member may be utilized only for purposes of establishing eligibility to the survivorship benefits provided herein and may not be used to create or affect other retirement rights provided in the City Charter or the Los Angeles Administrative Code.
(4) Survivor Benefit Options. Certain survivors of Members who die before retirement may be eligible to elect to receive a lifetime allowance pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.1080.11. The right to elect the benefit provided in Section 4.1080.11 is contingent upon an otherwise eligible survivor being entitled to receive all of the deceased Member’s contributions because that benefit is provided in lieu of the payment of the Member’s contributions and a limited pension, as authorized in this subsection.
(b) Death of Former Member before Retirement. Upon the death of any former Member who had not yet retired and whose contributions remain on deposit:
(1) Accumulated Contributions. The former Member’s Accumulated Contributions shall be paid to the person or legal entity the former Member shall have nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the Board of Administration or, if there be no written designation of beneficiary, then to the surviving spouse or Domestic Partner of the deceased Member, or to the Member’s children in the event there be no surviving spouse or Domestic Partner, or to the Member’s parents in the event there be no surviving spouse or Domestic Partner or children. In the event there be no written designation of beneficiary, surviving spouse or Domestic Partner, children or parents, then the Accumulated Contributions shall be paid to the executor or administrator of the estate of such deceased Member, or to any other person or legal entity legally authorized to collect money due the decedent.
(2) Optional Retirement Allowance. In the event the surviving spouse or Domestic Partner of the former Member is entitled to be paid, against the claims or demands of any and all other persons thereto, the full amount of such former Member’s Accumulated Contributions, and further provided that such former Member had completed five (5) or more years of Continuous Service with the City:
(i) Eligible for Deferred Retirement. If a former Member was eligible for deferred service retirement at the time of the former Member’s death, then such surviving spouse or Domestic Partner may by a written instrument, duly executed, acknowledged and filed with the Board of Administration, waive payment of the Accumulated Contributions that would otherwise be payable under this subsection and elect to receive an optional retirement allowance equal to that which the former Member would have received had the former Member retired under the provisions of Section 4.1080.14(a)(1) on the day prior to the former Member’s death.
(ii) Eligible for Future Deferred Retirement. If a former Member was not eligible for deferred service retirement at the time of the former Member’s death, then the Member’s surviving spouse or Domestic Partner may, by a written instrument duly executed, acknowledged and filed with the Board of Administration, waive payment of the Accumulated Contributions that would otherwise be payable under this subsection, and elect to wait until such time as the former Member would have been entitled to receive a service retirement allowance and then shall receive an optional retirement allowance equal to that which the former Member would have received had the former Member retired under the provisions of Section 4.1080.14(a)(1) on the day first eligible to receive such benefit.
(c) Death of Retired Member. Upon the death of a retired Member:
(1) Survivor Continuance Options. Sections 4.1080.12, 4.1080.13, and 4.1080.14 contain provisions that authorize the payment of retirement allowances to specified survivors of retired Members. These benefits are generally referred to as continuance benefits because the benefit is based on a continuation to the survivor of some portion of the deceased retired Member’s allowance.
(2) Unused Contributions and Unpaid Retirement Allowance. Upon the death of a retired Member or upon the death of all of the Member’s survivors to whom a retirement allowance was paid, the unused contributions and any accrued but unpaid retirement allowance due the retiree shall be paid in the same manner as that provided in Subsection (a)(1) of this section for the payment of the Accumulated Contributions of a Member who dies before retirement; provided, however, that the retired Member or any survivors shall not have received a retirement allowance pursuant to which no refund of contributions is payable upon the death of the retiree or the retiree’s last survivor, in which case no contributions shall be refundable. For the purpose of this article, the phrase “unused contributions” shall be the remainder, if any, of the Accumulated Contributions of the deceased Member after deducting the total of all amounts paid on account of any annuity to such retiree and to the retiree’s survivor or survivors, provided that there shall be no unused contributions in the event that the retiree or any survivors received a retirement allowance pursuant to which no refund of contributions is payable upon the death of the retiree or the retiree’s last survivor.
The spouse or Domestic Partner who is receiving an allowance as a result of the death of a deceased Member, referred to as a survivor for purposes of this provision, may file a beneficiary designation with the Board of Administration naming a beneficiary or beneficiaries for any accrued but unpaid allowance payable upon the survivor’s death and, subject to the limitations set forth below, for the deceased Member’s unused contributions.
Upon the survivor’s death, any accrued but unpaid allowance due to the survivor shall be paid in the following order: (i) to the survivor’s designated beneficiaries; (ii) if none, to the children of the survivor; (iii) if no children, to the parents of the survivor; (iv) if no parents, to the executor or administrator of the estate of the survivor; or (v) to any other person or legal entity legally entitled to collect money due to the survivor. Should the survivor leave no person or legal entity legally entitled to collect any accrued allowance, it shall be paid in the following order: (i) to the deceased Member’s children; or (ii) if none, to the deceased Member’s parents; or (iii) if none, to the executor or administrator of the estate of the Member; or (iv) to any other person or legal entity legally entitled to collect money due to the deceased Member.
If the deceased Member has failed to designate a beneficiary for the unused contributions or if the beneficiaries so designated by the deceased Member have all predeceased the survivor, then, upon the death of the survivor, the Board of Administration shall pay the unused contributions pursuant to the survivor’s beneficiary designation on file with the Board. In the event the survivor has no beneficiary designation on file or the named beneficiaries have all predeceased the survivor, then the unused contributions shall be paid in the following order: (i) to the deceased Member’s children; or (ii) if none, to the deceased Member’s parents; or (iii) if none, to the executor or administrator of the estate of the survivor; or (iv) to any other person or legal entity legally entitled to collect money due to the deceased survivor.
(3) Burial Allowance. Upon the death of every retired Member, the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) shall be paid to one (1) and only one (1) person or legal entity as the retired Member shall have nominated by written designation, duly executed and filed with the Board of Administration; or to the surviving spouse or Domestic Partner of such deceased retired Member, in the event there be no designated beneficiary; or to the Member’s child or children, in the event there be no designated beneficiary or surviving spouse or Domestic Partner, provided that such payment shall be made only after satisfactory evidence has been presented to the Board showing that the expense of burial of the decedent has been paid or that the obligation to pay therefor has been assumed by a person or persons or an organization legally capable of contracting such obligation. The fact of burial, as evidenced by a certified copy of the death certificate, shall be sufficient evidence of compliance with the requirements stated in the foregoing sentence. While the purpose of this benefit is to provide a funeral allowance for the deceased retiree, the Retirement System shall have no responsibility to assure that this payment is used for that purpose.
In the event there be no designated beneficiary, surviving spouse or Domestic Partner, or child or children, or in the event the requirements herein stated with respect to the expense of burial of such retired Member have not been complied with within such time as said Board, in its discretion, may determine, then the payment of the amount specified in this Subsection shall be paid to the executor or administrator of the estate of such decedent, or to any other person or legal entity legally authorized to receive money due said decedent.
(d) Forfeiture of Unclaimed Contributions to the Retirement Fund. The right to payment of the Accumulated Contributions upon the death of the Member or former Member before retirement, as provided in Subsections (a) and (b) herein, and the right to payment of the Member’s unused contributions, as provided in Subsection (c) herein, upon the later of the death of the retired Member or the Member’s survivor to whom an allowance was paid, is a vested property right of the person(s) entitled to such payment; provided, however, that should the person(s) entitled thereto fail to claim this benefit within ten (10) years from the date of such death, the funds shall be forfeited to the Retirement Fund, unless and until the Board of Administration receives a valid belated claim for payment, determined at the sole discretion of the Board of Administration. Any death benefit payable shall be subject to mandatory minimum distribution as required by the Internal Revenue Code, provided that the funds that are required to be distributed shall be forfeited to the Retirement Fund if the person(s) entitled to the funds refuses to cooperate in electing to be paid such funds or cannot be located and the Retirement System has followed Internal Revenue Service procedures to locate such person(s).
(e) All benefits payable upon the death of a Public Safety Officer Member, Public Safety Officer Former Member, or Public Safety Officer Retired Member, shall be determined by Section 4.1080.10.1, and the provisions of this section and Sections 4.1080.11, 4.1080.12, 4.1080.13, and 4.1080.14, shall not apply. The provisions of Section 4.1090 establishing the Family Death Benefit Plan shall apply only to the extent that it would not cause a survivor allowance to be paid that exceeds any limitations imposed by the Internal Revenue Code.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 184,134, Eff. 1-22-16.
Amended by: In Entirety, Ord. No. 187,923, Eff. 7-9-23.