New Jersey Statutes 43:15A-50. Public employee pension options
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 43:15A-50
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
Option 1. If the member dies before the member has received in payments the present value of the retirement allowance as it was at the time of retirement, the balance shall be paid to a legal representative or to such person as the member shall nominate by written designation acknowledged and filed with the retirement system, either in a lump sum or by equal payments over a period of years at the option of the payee. If the member shall have designated a natural person as the payee, said payee may elect to receive such payments in the form of a life annuity.
Option 2. Upon the member’s death, the member’s retirement allowance shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to such person as the member shall nominate by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the retirement system at the time of retirement.
Option 3. Upon the member’s death, one-half of the member’s retirement allowance shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to such person as the member shall nominate by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the retirement system at the time of retirement.
Option 4. Some other benefit or benefits shall be paid either to the member or to whomever the member nominates, if such other benefit or benefits, together with the lesser retirement allowance, shall be certified by the actuary to be of equivalent actuarial value. In no case, however, shall the lesser retirement allowance be smaller than that provided under Option 2.
Option 5. Some other benefit, which is equivalent to the full amount, three-quarters, one-half or one-quarter of the member’s retirement allowance, shall be paid to whomever the member nominates and if that nominee dies before the member, the member’s retirement allowance shall increase to the maximum retirement allowance for the member’s lifetime, provided that such other benefit together with the member’s lesser and maximum retirement allowances shall be certified by the actuary to be of equivalent actuarial value.
If the total amount of benefits paid to a retirant who does not elect to receive benefits in the form of an optional settlement, or to the retirant and the designated beneficiary in the case of a retirant who does so elect, before the death of the retirant or the retirant and the beneficiary is less than the deductions accumulated in the retirant’s account at the time of retirement, including regular interest, the balance shall be paid in one lump sum to the retirant’s designated beneficiary or estate in the manner provided in section 51 of P.L.1954, c.84 (C. 43:15A-51).
Except in the case of members who have elected to receive (1) a deferred retirement allowance pursuant to section 38 of P.L.1954, c.84 (C. 43:15A-38) or (2) early retirement allowances pursuant to subsection b. of section 41 of P.L.1954, c.84 (C. 43:15A-41) after separation from service pursuant to section 38, if a member dies within 30 days after the date of retirement or the date of board approval, whichever is later, the member’s retirement allowance shall not become effective and the member shall be considered an active member at the time of death. However, if the member dies after the date the application for retirement was filed with the system, the retirement will become effective if:
a. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1995, c.221);
b. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1995, c.221);
c. The deceased member had designated a beneficiary under an optional settlement provided by this section; and
d. The surviving beneficiary requests in writing that the board make such a selection. Upon formal action by the board approving that request, the request shall be irrevocable.
The board may select an Option 3 settlement, on behalf of the beneficiary of a member who applied for and was eligible for retirement but who died prior to the effective date of the retirement allowance, if all of the above conditions, with the exception of c., are met.
L.1954, c.84,s.50; amended 1954, c.244, s.8; 1966, c.217, s.10; 1984, c.96, s.1; 1987, c.446, s.2; 1995, c.221, s.2; 2001, c.120, s.2.