If no family benefit is being paid pursuant to § 3-12C-907, a surviving spouse of a contributing foundation member who had acquired at least three years of contributory service or noncontributory service or who died while performing usual duties for the employer and who died after June 30, 2015, is, upon attaining the age of sixty-five, eligible to receive a surviving spouse benefit calculated as follows, whichever is applicable:

(1) If a family benefit had been paid, sixty percent of the family benefit paid at the time the family benefit ended, increased by the COLA from the date the last family benefit was paid; or

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(2) If a family benefit had not been paid, sixty percent of the amount calculated pursuant to subsection (a) or (b), whichever is greater, increased by the COLA from the date of the member’s death:

(a) Twenty-five percent of the member’s final average compensation at the time of the member’s death; or

(b) The member’s unreduced accrued retirement benefit at the time of the member’s death.

The surviving spouse benefit shall be paid, upon receipt of a completed application, in monthly installments for the life of the surviving spouse. If the surviving spouse is eligible at the time of the member’s death, the benefit is effective the first day of the month following the date on which the member’s contributory service terminates.

Source: SL 2014, ch 20, § 18; SL 2015, ch 26, § 1; SL 2016, ch 32, § 42; SL 2017, ch 27, § 15; SDCL § 3-12-95.5; SL 2019, ch 22, §§ 26, 45; SL 2020, ch 15, § 4.