Section 31785.1 Of Article 12. Death Benefit From California Government Code >> Division 4. >> Title 3. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 12.
31785.1
. (a) Notwithstanding Section 31481 or 31785, upon the death
of any safety member, after retirement for service or
non-service-connected disability from a retirement system established
in a county pursuant to this chapter, 60 percent of his or her
retirement allowance if not modified in accordance with one of the
optional settlements specified in Article 11 (commencing with Section
31760), shall be continued to his or her surviving spouse for life.
If there is no surviving spouse entitled to an allowance under this
section or if she or he dies before every child of the deceased
safety member attains the age of 18 years, then the allowance that
the surviving spouse would have received had he or she lived, shall
be paid to his or her child or children under that age, collectively,
to continue until each child dies or attains that age. However, no
child may receive any allowance after marrying or attaining the age
of 18 years.
(b) No allowance may be paid under this section to a surviving
spouse unless he or she was married to the safety member at least two
years prior to the date of death and has attained the age of 55
years on or prior to the date of death.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the
benefits otherwise payable to the children of the member shall be
paid to the children through the age of 21 years if the children
remain unmarried and are regularly enrolled as full-time students in
an accredited school as determined by the board.
(d) No allowance may be paid pursuant to this section to any
person who is entitled to an allowance pursuant to Section 31785.
(e) The superseding rights pursuant to this section do not affect
benefits payable to a named beneficiary as provided under Section
31789, 31789.01, 31789.1, 31789.12, 31789.13, 31789.2, 31789.3,
31789.5, or 31790.
(f) This section is not applicable in any county until the board
of retirement, by resolution adopted by a majority vote, makes this
section applicable in the county. The board's resolution may
designate a date, which may be prior or subsequent to the date of the
resolution, as of which the resolution and this section shall be
operative in the county.