Ohio Code 143.09 – Payments to volunteer peace officers who are totally and permanently disabled; death benefits
(A) A volunteer peace officer who, on or after December 22, 2015, is totally and permanently disabled as a result of discharging the duties of a volunteer peace officer shall receive a benefit from the volunteer peace officers’ dependents fund of three hundred dollars per month, except that no payment shall be made to a volunteer peace officer who is receiving the officer’s full salary during the time of the officer’s disability.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 143.09
- Child: includes child by adoption. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Killed in the line of duty: means either of the following:
(1) Death in the line of duty;
(2) Death from injury sustained in the line of duty, including heart attack or other fatal injury or illness caused while in the line of duty. See Ohio Code 143.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Totally and permanently disabled: means unable to engage in any substantial gainful employment for a period of not less than twelve months by reason of a medically determinable physical impairment that is permanent or presumed to be permanent. See Ohio Code 143.01
- Volunteer peace officer: means any person who is employed as a police officer, sheriff's deputy, constable, or deputy marshal in a part-time, reserve, or volunteer capacity by a county sheriff's department or the police department of a municipal corporation, township, township police district, or joint police district and is not either of the following:
(1) A member of the public employees retirement system, Ohio police and fire pension fund, state highway patrol retirement system, or the Cincinnati retirement system;
(2) A retirant as defined in section 145. See Ohio Code 143.01
(B)(1) Regardless of whether the volunteer peace officer received a benefit under division (A) of this section, death benefits shall be paid from the fund as follows:
(a) To the surviving spouse and dependent children of a volunteer peace officer who, on or after December 22, 2015, is killed in the line of duty;
(b) If the director of commerce makes the determination that initial premiums are sufficient as described in section 143.091 of the Revised Code, to the surviving spouse and dependent children of a volunteer peace officer who, on or after January 1, 2012, but before December 22, 2015, was killed in the line of duty.
(2) Death benefits shall be paid as follows:
(a) To the surviving spouse of a volunteer peace officer killed in the line of duty, an award of one thousand dollars, and in addition, a benefit of three hundred dollars per month;
(b) To the parent, guardian, or other persons on whom a child of a volunteer peace officer killed in the line of duty is dependent for chief financial support, a benefit of one hundred twenty-five dollars per month for each dependent child under age eighteen, or under age twenty-two if attending an institution of learning or training pursuant to a program designed to complete in each school year the equivalent of at least two-thirds of the full-time curriculum requirements of the institution.
(C) An individual eligible for benefits payable under this section shall file a claim for benefits with the appropriate volunteer peace officers’ dependents fund board on a form provided by the board. All of the following information shall be submitted with the claim:
(1) In the case of a totally and permanently disabled volunteer peace officer, the following:
(a) The name of the police or sheriff’s department for which the officer was a volunteer peace officer;
(b) The date of the injury;
(c) Satisfactory medical evidence that the officer is totally and permanently disabled.
(2) In the case of a surviving spouse or a parent, guardian, or other person in charge of a dependent child, the following:
(a) The full name of the deceased volunteer peace officer;
(b) The name of the police or sheriff’s department for which the deceased officer was a volunteer peace officer;
(c) The name and address of the surviving spouse, as applicable;
(d) The names, ages, and addresses of any dependent children;
(e) Any other evidence required by the board.
(D) All claimants shall certify that neither the claimant nor the person on whose behalf the claim is filed qualifies for other benefits from any of the following based on the officer’s service as a volunteer peace officer: the public employees retirement system, Ohio police and fire pension fund, state highway patrol retirement system, Cincinnati retirement system, or Ohio public safety officers death benefit fund.
(E) Initial claims shall be filed with the volunteer peace officers’ dependents fund board of the fund member in which the officer was a volunteer peace officer. Thereafter, on request of the claimant or the board, claims may be transferred to a board near the claimant’s current residence, if the boards concerned agree to the transfer.