If a member ceases to be a teacher or employee except by death or retirement, the member must be paid within six months after the member's demand for payment, but not less than ninety days after ceasing to be a teacher or employee, the sum of the member's contributions and the accumulated regular interest on the contributions. If the member has five or more years of earned service or eight or more years of such service for a Class Three member, and before the time the member's membership would otherwise terminate, elects to leave these contributions in the system, the member, unless these contributions are paid to him as provided by this section before the attainment of age sixty, remains a member of the system and is entitled to receive a deferred retirement allowance beginning at age sixty computed as a service retirement allowance in accordance with Section 9-1-1550(A) or (B) for Class One and Class Two members and Section 9-1-1550(C) for Class Three members. The employee annuity must be the actuarial equivalent at age sixty of the member's contributions with the interest credits on the contributions, if any, as allowed by the board. If a member dies before retirement, the amount of the member's accumulated contributions must be paid to the member's estate or to the person the member nominated by written designation filed with the board.

Upon the death of a member who did not select a survivor option or who selected a survivor option and the member's designated beneficiary predeceased the member, a lump sum amount must be paid to the member's designated beneficiary or the member's estate if total member contributions and accrued interest at the member's retirement exceed the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member. Upon the death of a designated beneficiary selected under a survivor option, a lump sum amount must be paid to the beneficiary's estate if total member contributions and accrued interest at the member's retirement exceed the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member and the member's beneficiary. The lump sum payment must be the total member contributions and accrued interest at retirement less the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member or in the case of a survivor option, the total member contributions and accrued interest at retirement less the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member and the member's designated beneficiary. This paragraph does not govern lump sum distributions payable on account of members retiring under former Option 1 of Section 9-1-1620 or on account of members retiring before July 1, 1990 under former Option 4 of Section 9-1-1620.

An active contributing member making the nomination provided under this section also may name contingent beneficiaries in the same manner that beneficiaries are named. A contingent beneficiary has no rights under this chapter unless all beneficiaries nominated by the member have predeceased the member and the member's death occurs while in service. In this instance, a contingent beneficiary is considered the member's beneficiary for purposes of this section and Section 9-1-1660, if applicable.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 61-114; 1952 Code § 61-114; 1945 (44) 212; 1949 (46) 424; 1967 (55) 507; 1974 (58) 2057; 1975 (59) 51; 1979 Act No. 82 § 2; 1984 Act No. 384, § 3; 1995 Act No. 139, § 1, eff June 28, 1995; 2000 Act No. 387, Part II, § 67E, eff January 1, 2001; 2012 Act No. 278, Pt I, § 12, eff July 1, 2012; 2018 Act No. 149 (H.4869), § 1, eff July 1, 2018.

2018 Act No. 149, Section 1, in the first undesignated paragraph, in the fourth sentence, deleted ", duly acknowledged and" following "nominated by written designation".