Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any judge with at least five years of service, may retire, and upon his or her application therefor to the Judges’ Retirement System after reaching the age which would have permitted him or her to retire for age and length of service under Section 75025 had he or she remained continuously in service as a judge up to that age, receive a retirement allowance based upon the judicial service as a judge of a court of record, with which he or she is credited, in the same manner as other judges, except as otherwise provided by this section the retirement allowance is an annual amount equal to 3.75 percent of the compensation payable, at the time payments of the allowance fall due, to the judge holding the office which the retired judge last held prior to his or her discontinuance of his or her service as judge, multiplied by the number of years and fractions of years of service with which the retired judge is entitled to be credited at the time of his or her retirement, not to exceed 20 years.

A judge of a justice court who renders part-time service after January 1, 1990, shall receive a reduced retirement allowance based upon actual service rendered.

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If a judge has served more than five years but less than 12 years, the above percentage of compensation payable shall be reduced 0.25 percent for each year that the service of the judge is less than 12 years. For the purposes of calculating the percentage of compensation payable, part-time service shall be the equivalent of full-time service.

No judge shall be eligible to receive an allowance pursuant to this section until the attainment of at least age 63 unless the judge is credited with 20 years of judicial service and has attained age 60.

The surviving spouse of any judge who has so elected to retire under this section shall receive for life an allowance equal to one-half of the retirement allowance that would be payable to the judge were he or she living and receiving the benefits accorded by this section, commencing with the day following the date of the death, if the judge dies after commencement of receipt of benefits, or the date the judge would have been able to commence receipt of benefits but for his or her death, if his or her death occurs prior to commencement of receipt of benefits.

An election to retire under this section shall be made in writing and filed with the Judges’ Retirement System, and shall be without right of revocation, and upon that filing the judge shall be deemed retired with receipt of benefits deferred until herein provided, and the judicial office from which he or she has retired shall become vacant. The notice and election of retirement shall be sufficient if it states in substance that the judge elects to retire under the benefits of this section.

A judge who leaves his or her office prior to July 21, 1997, to accept any lucrative office under the United States within the purview of Section 7 of Article VII of the Constitution shall have any benefits receivable hereunder reduced by the amount of any salary or retirement benefits he or she receives by virtue of his or her service in that office. This paragraph shall not apply to any judge who left office on or after July 21, 1997.

(Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 212, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1999.)