19-20-1002. Payments on 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 or, if there is no continuing benefit payable, to the deceased retiree's designated or alternate beneficiary; 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, if any, 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, if any, 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.

(5) (a) Not including any minor child benefit of $200 a month payable under subsection (1)(b), if the only amount remaining payable on the account of a deceased retiree is the $500 death benefit and there are multiple individuals who are eligible designated or alternate beneficiaries to share in the $500 death benefit, any of the potential beneficiaries must be considered to have fully and irrevocably renounced their rights and interest to a share of the $500 death benefit when the following criteria are met:

(i) the retirement system is unable to identify or locate the individual;

(ii) if identified and located, the retirement system mailed notice of the beneficiary interest and required application materials to be completed and returned by the individual on two occasions at least 30 days apart and the individual failed to complete and return the required application materials to be received by the retirement system within 30 days of the second mailing by the retirement system;

(iii) at least one eligible beneficiary has completed and returned the required application materials to the retirement system;

(iv) at least 180 days has passed following the death of the retiree and, if required application materials were sent to the individual as described in subsection (5)(a)(ii), at least 30 days has passed since the date of the second mailing by the retirement system; and

(v) the retirement system has not received actual notice of formal or informal probate of the deceased retiree's estate.

(b) Any portion of the $500 death benefit may not be distributed until the total benefit can be distributed. The share of the $500 death benefit that would have been payable to a potential beneficiary considered to have renounced their interest under this provision must be distributed in equal shares to an eligible beneficiary who has been identified and located and who has completed and returned the required application materials. Distribution of the $500 death benefit to an eligible beneficiary is satisfaction in full of the retirement system's obligation for distribution of the $500 death benefit.

(c) This subsection (5) does not require the retirement system to distribute the $500 death benefit strictly within the timeframe specified or prohibit the retirement system from providing any additional process the retirement system believes to be reasonable and appropriate to identify, locate, and obtain required application materials from an eligible beneficiary.