Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
RULES AND REGULATIONS (as amended by Act 1324 of
2009)
If an active member with five (5) or more years of actual and
reciprocal service, including credited service for the year immediately
preceding his or her death, dies while in active service before retirement,
survivor benefits as provided in A.CA. §
24-7-710, plus the monthly
stipend under A.CA. §
24-7-713, shall be paid to the following qualifying
dependents.
A member shall also be considered active for the purpose of
survivor benefits if:
(1) The member
has at least ten (10) days of service credit in each prior quarter of the
fiscal year from the time the fiscal year began or the member was employed by
an ATRS employer, whichever occurs last, provided however, the member must have
at least one quarter with ten (10) days of service; and,
(2) The member has at least tea (10) days of
service the quarter of the member's death, or. ten (10) working days have not
elapsed in the quarter of the member's death.
1.
SPOUSE
A. The member's surviving spouse, who was
married to the member for at least two (2) years immediately prior to the
member's death, shall receive a surviving spouse benefit.
B. If at the member's death there are no
dependent children eligible to receive a dependent child annuity, a surviving
spouse who qualifies to receive a surviving spouse annuity may file with the
System a waiver of any rights to the spouse annuity.
If the surviving spouse files a waiver of the spouse annuity, the
deceased member's residue beneficiary(ies) will receive a single distribution
of the member's residue amount, if any.
C. The spouse annuity shall begin under the
following schedule:
i. If the member was not
eligible for early, regular, or deferred retirement at the time of his/her
death, the spouse annuity will begin the date the member would have been
eligible to receive retirement benefits and is payable for the spouse's
lifetime, regardless of remarriage.
ii. However, if the member had either
satisfied the age and service requirements provided in A.C.A. §§
24-7-701 or 702 or attained age sixty (60) and was eligible for deferred
retirement under A.C.A §
24-7-707, then the spouse annuity commences the
month following the member's death and is payable for the spouse's lifetime,
regardless of remarriage.
iii. If
the surviving spouse is eligible to receive the survivor annuity upon the
member's death but would receive a reduction due to the member being less than
60 years of age, the spouse may defer receipt of the annuity until the member
would have been entitled to an unreduced benefit at age 60 under A.C.A. §
24-7-707.
2.
DEPENDENT CHILDREN
A. Effective
July 1, 2011, upon the death of an active member, the dependent children shall
each receive a surviving child annuity upon the member's death. The surviving
child annuity shall be equal to 20% of the member's highest salary year in
covered employment. If the member's highest salary year occurs in the year the
member died, the System shall calculate the dependent child annuity(ies) on the
basis of the full year of salary. Each child's annuity shall begin the month
following the member's death and be payable until the annuity terminates.
Surviving children will receive a COLA the July 1 following the
annuity commencement date if he/she has received at least 12 monthly benefit
payments prior to the COLA implementation date. The cost of living adjustment
shall be simple unless the Board elects to compound the COLA for that
period.
B. However, if a
member has more than three (3) dependent children eligible under this section,
then the aggregate annuity payable shall not exceed 60% of the member's highest
salary year and shall be divided equally among the surviving dependent
children.
C. A member's "child"
eligible to receive a child annuity is a "child" under any of the following:
i. A natural child of the member; or
ii. A child that has been made a
child of the member by adoption or other court action prior to the member's
death.
D. A child
identified as a dependent will remain eligible to receive a survivor annuity
until he/she is no longer a dependent. A child is no longer dependent if he/she
reaches the age of 18.
E. A child
will continue to be eligible for a child survivor annuity after reaching age 18
if the child continues consecutively, without interruption as a full-time
student at an accredited secondary school, postsecondary school such as a
vocational technical school, college, or university. In any event, a dependent
child annuity will terminate when the child reaches age 23.
i. A full-time student is defined as one
carrying 12 semester hours or 8 trimester hours in college, four (4) hours per
day in a secondary or postsecondary school, or other verifiable Indices from an
accredited Institution that the dependent child is engaged in full time
curriculum or field of study.
ii.
If a child who is receiving a dependent child annuity is age 18 or older but
becomes temporarily physically or mentally Incapacitated, the Board may
continue paying benefits upon receipt of a doctor's certification that the
child is temporarily physically or mentally incapacitated, and is unable to
attend school for the period of one semester or term. At the beginning of the
next semester or term, if the child does not reenter school full-time, the
dependent child annuity will terminate.
iii. Certification of attendance in an
accredited school may be reported by the dependent child in the absence of a
parent or legal guardian after the dependent child reaches age 18.
F. A deceased member's dependent
child who Is dependent due to having been adjudged physically or mentally
incapacitated by a court or legal tribunal continues to be eligible to receive
a dependent child annuity as long as the incapacity exists, regardless of
age.
G. A child annuity shall not
be adjusted from its initial monthly amount when other dependent annuities
terminate except for COLAs.
H. A
dependent child annuity will be paid as separate payments to each child
monthly, rather than one lump-sum check payable to the spouse or custodian.
Deposit accounts designated to receive survivor annuity payments to a child
under age 18 must qualify as custodial accounts in accordance with the Uniform
Transfers to Minors Act.
3.
GENERAL RULES REGARDING SURVIVOR
ANNUITIES
A. Survivors are required to
produce sufficient proof of eligibility under these provisions prior to
receiving benefit payments.
B. If
at the time of an active member's death, a surviving spouse is listed on the
death certificate, the System will search for the surviving spouse for up to
one year. If after one year, ATRS has not located or been contacted by the
surviving spouse, ATRS will refund the member's residue amount, if any, to the
member's remaining residue beneficiaries surviving the member.
C. If the member dies before receipt of the
first disability retirement check but after receiving final approval for
disability retirement, the benefits will be paid under the disability
retirement option selected by the member.
D. If the member dies after the disability
application is received by the System but before disability retirement is
approved, then the System shall consider the member to have died in "active"
service and survivor benefits under A.C.A. §
24-7-710 shall be
paid.
E. For the purposes of
determining survivor benefits, the member's salary shall be the salary that the
member would have received in the fiscal year in which he/she died had the
member lived through the end of the fiscal year.
F. Salary payments made after the death of a
member that were earned prior to death are subject to System deductions and
shall be reported in total salary and days of service in the employer's
quarterly report. Payments made by an employer after the death of an active
member that are made as a mere gratuity and were not earned by the member shall
not be included in the member's salary reported to the System and are not
subject to contributions.
For purposes of survivor benefits, a member will
be considered active for an additional fiscal year following the last fiscal
year that actual service was rendered to a covered
employer.
G. If survivor
benefits are payable by more than one reciprocal system to eligible survivors
of a deceased member, the survivors shall not receive more as a percentage of
the deceased member's final pay or as a minimum dollar amount than the largest
amount payable by a single, reciprocal system. The System wilI prorate minimum
benefits payable with any other reciprocal systems that have a minimum benefit
provision in its plan. Each reciprocal system shall pay only its proportionate
share of the minimum amount based on the ratio of service in its system to the
total service In all reciprocal systems.
H. When the member elects to transfer from
ATRS to APERS under the provisions of Act 793 of 1977, APERS' law governs the
survivors' eligibility for a payment of residue or survivor benefits upon the
member's death
Amended: June 15, 2004
February 7, 2006
April 26, 2007
December 18, 2009
July 1, 2011 (Emergency)
Adopted: August 8, 2011
Effective: November 11, 2011
Approved by Board: August 6. 2012
Amended: October 13, 2012
Effective: March 6, 2013
