Section 31787.5 Of Article 12. Death Benefit From California Government Code >> Division 4. >> Title 3. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 12.
31787.5
. (a) A surviving spouse of a member who is killed in the
performance of duty or who dies as the result of an accident or an
injury caused by external violence or physical force, incurred in the
performance of the member's duty, now or hereafter entitled to
receive a death allowance under Section 31787, shall be paid an
additional amount for each of the member's children during the
lifetime of the child, or until the child marries or reaches the age
of 18 years, as follows, subject to the limitation in subdivision
(b):
(1) For one child, twenty-five percent (25%) of the allowance
provided in Section 31787.
(2) For two children, forty percent (40%) of the allowance
provided in Section 31787.
(3) For three or more children, fifty percent (50%) of the
allowance provided in Section 31787.
(b) If a benefit payable under this section, when added to a
benefit payable under Section 31787, exceeds the maximum benefit
payable by a tax-qualified pension plan under the Internal Revenue
Code (26 U.S.C.A. Sec. 401 et. seq.), the benefit payable under this
section shall be reduced to the amount required to meet that benefit
limit.
(c) If the surviving spouse does not have legal custody of the
member's children, the allowance provided by this section shall be
payable to the person to whom custody of the children has been
awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction for each child during
the lifetime of the child, or until the child marries or reaches the
age of 18 years.
(d) The allowance provided by this section shall be payable to the
surviving spouses of members whose duties consist of active law
enforcement or active fire suppression or any other class or group of
members as the retirement board shall fix. The allowance provided by
this section is not payable to the surviving spouses of members
described in Section 31469.2.
(e) Any child whose eligibility for an allowance pursuant to this
section commenced on or after October 1, 1965, shall lose that
eligibility effective on the date of his or her adoption.
(f) This section shall become operative in any county, which has
adopted the provisions of this chapter but which has not previously
adopted the provisions of this section on October 1, 1965. Each
surviving spouse of a member or other person having legal custody of
a member's child or children who is paid an additional amount for
each of the member's children because of the amendments to this
section enacted at the 1965 or 1967 Regular Session shall receive
those payments as they accrue from and after October 1 of the year
during which this section was amended to provide for the payment to
him or her of that allowance, but the surviving spouse or other
person shall not be given a claim for any increase in those benefits
for a time prior to that date.
(g) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the
benefits otherwise payable to the children of the member shall be
paid to those 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.