19-20-1002. Payments upon death of retiree. (1) In the event of the death of a retired member:

(a) a lump-sum death benefit of $500 is payable to the joint annuitant or in equal shares to the deceased retiree's eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries receiving benefits under either subsection (2), (3), or (4) and is in addition to those benefits; and

(b) subject to 19-20-1009, the sum of $200 a month must be paid to each minor child of the deceased retiree until the child reaches 18 years of age.

(2) If the member was receiving a normal form retirement allowance, a lump-sum refund of the member's account balance must be paid to the eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries in equal shares.

(3) If the member was receiving a joint and survivor annuity optional retirement allowance:

(a) monthly benefits must continue to be paid to the joint annuitant; or

(b) if there is no surviving joint annuitant, a lump-sum refund of the member's account balance must be paid to the member's alternate beneficiary or beneficiaries in equal shares.

(4) If the retired member was receiving a 10-year or 20-year period certain retirement allowance, until the period has expired:

(a) if the eligible beneficiary is one or more individuals, the monthly benefits must continue to be paid to the eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries in equal shares. If there is more than one eligible beneficiary, upon the death of one eligible beneficiary, the benefit amount payable to the deceased beneficiary must be redistributed in equal shares to the surviving eligible beneficiaries. If all eligible beneficiaries die before the period has expired, a lump-sum amount actuarially determined to be the present value of all monthly benefits remaining to be paid over the period must be paid to the alternate beneficiary of the last surviving eligible beneficiary.

(b) if the eligible beneficiary is the deceased retiree's estate or trust, a lump-sum amount actuarially determined to be the present value of all monthly benefits remaining to be paid over the period must be paid to the eligible beneficiary.