Death benefits vary depending on the member’s length of County employment or amount of service time.
Five or More Years of Service
If the active member in Plan A, B, C, or D was vested with five years of County employment or was a Plan G or Safety Plan C member with at least five years of County service credit, the following death benefits may be payable to a named beneficiary or eligible survivor:
- Basic Death Benefit (payable to named beneficiary or member’s estate):
- Lump-sum payment of member’s accumulated contributions
- Salary Death Benefit: one month of member’s compensation earnable for each full year of Plan D service, for up to six months
- Optional Death Allowance (payable to eligible survivor): 65 percent of monthly disability retirement allowance deceased member would have received had he or she been retired on a nonservice-connected disability at the time of death
- Combined Benefit (payable to eligible survivor):
- Salary Death Benefit
- Actuarially reduced monthly Optional Death Allowance paid to eligible survivor
Eligible survivors for a continuing allowance are:
- A spouse or domestic partner who married or entered into a duly registered domestic partnership with the member prior to the member's death. No minimum length of marriage or domestic partnership requirement applies.
- In the absence of a surviving spouse or domestic partner, the decedent's unmarried minor children under age 18. Eligibility may be extended until age 22 if the eligible child(ren) remains unmarried and a full-time student in an accredited educational institution.
If the member did not complete a beneficiary designation form, by law the decedent’s surviving spouse or domestic partner or minor child (in the absence of a spouse or domestic partner) would receive any applicable death benefits. In addition, the rights of a surviving spouse or domestic partner of an active member who dies before retirement may take precedence over the rights of any other named beneficiary.
See Survivor Healthcare for healthcare coverage information.
Less Than Five Years of Service
If the active member was not vested with five years of County employment or had less than five years of service credit, the following death benefits may be payable to a named beneficiary or eligible survivor:
Plans A, B, C, D, and G:
- Lump-sum payment of member’s accumulated contributions
- Salary Death Benefit: one month of member’s compensation earnable for each full year of Plan A, B, C, or D service (not to exceed six months)
No minimum length of service is required under any contributory plan for lump-sum death benefit eligibility.
See Survivor Healthcare for information about continued healthcare coverage for survivors of retired members.