(1) The person nominated by a member pursuant to Section 9-11-110 to receive a lump sum amount if the member dies before retirement may, if the member:

(a) has five or more years of earned service or eight or more years of such service for a Class Three member;

(b) dies in service; and

(c) has either attained age fifty-five or has accumulated fifteen years of creditable service, elect to receive in lieu of the lump sum amount otherwise payable under Section 9-11-110(1)(a) an allowance for life in the same amount as if the deceased member had retired at the time of his death and had named the person as beneficiary under an election of Option B pursuant to Section 9-11-150(A).

For purposes of the benefit calculation, a member who is not yet eligible for service retirement is assumed to be fifty-five years of age.

(2) The person nominated may also elect to receive in lieu of the member's accumulated additional contributions, or a portion of it, an allowance for life which must be the actuarial equivalent of the amount of those contributions left on deposit under the System.

(3) Regardless of whether a member is in service, if a member dies before retirement and, at the time of the member's death, was eligible to receive a service retirement allowance pursuant to Section 9-11-60 or Section 9-11-70, the person nominated by a member pursuant to Section 9-11-110 to receive a lump sum amount if the member dies before retirement may elect to receive, in lieu of the lump sum amount otherwise payable, an allowance for life in the same amount as if the deceased member had retired at the time of the member's death and had named the person as beneficiary under an election of Option B under Section 9-11-150(A).

(4) If a member has designated more than one beneficiary pursuant to Section 9-11-110 to receive a lump sum amount if the member dies before retirement, and if those beneficiaries become eligible to elect an allowance pursuant to this section upon the member's death, all of the beneficiaries must elect the allowance in order for the allowance to become payable in lieu of the lump sum amount otherwise payable.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 61-341.2; 1971 (57) 66; 1974 (58) 2032; 1978 Act No. 644 Part II Section 33; 1981 Act No. 133, Section 3; 1983 Act No. 26, Section 3; 1985 Act No. 201, Part II Section 48F; 2000 Act No. 387, Part II, Section 67O, eff January 1, 2001; 2012 Act No. 278, Pt III, Section 26, Pt IV, Subpt 3, Section 66.B, eff July 1, 2012.