19-20-1006. When beneficiaries designated -- eligible beneficiaries -- right to renounce. (1) Upon first becoming an active member of the retirement system, the member shall designate one or more primary beneficiaries and may designate one or more contingent beneficiaries.

(2) (a) At the time of retirement, the member's beneficiary designations under subsection (1) are void and the member shall designate a joint annuitant or make a new beneficiary designation as provided in this subsection (2).

(b) A member who elects a normal form retirement allowance or a 10-year or 20-year period certain allowance under 19-20-702(3) shall designate one or more primary beneficiaries and may designate one or more contingent beneficiaries.

(c) A member who elects a joint and survivor annuity under 19-20-702(2) shall designate one individual as the member's joint annuitant and is prohibited from designating a beneficiary.

(3) A designated beneficiary must be one of the following expressly identified by the designator in a beneficiary designation record as a primary or contingent beneficiary:

(a) a named individual;

(b) the member's estate; or

(c) a legally existing trust created by the member as trustor or grantor.

(4) (a) If the member's estate or trust is designated as a primary beneficiary, no other primary and no contingent beneficiary may be designated.

(b) If the member's estate or trust is designated as a contingent beneficiary, no other contingent beneficiaries may be designated.

(5) (a) An eligible beneficiary is a designated beneficiary or alternate beneficiary entitled to receive payment of all or a share of a refund of a member's account balance, a monthly retirement allowance, or a lump-sum payment of the actuarially determined present value of the remaining payments under a period certain retirement allowance due to the death of a member or benefit recipient, based on the criteria set forth in this section.

(b) For an individual to be an eligible beneficiary, the individual must:

(i) survive at the time the distribution is to be made; and

(ii) have a social security number.

(c) For the estate of the decedent to be an eligible beneficiary, the estate must:

(i) be in formal or informal probate at the time the distribution is to be made;

(ii) have a court-appointed personal representative; and

(iii) have a tax identification number.

(d) For a trust created by the decedent to be an eligible beneficiary, the trust at the time the distribution is to be made must:

(i) legally exist;

(ii) be irrevocable;

(iii) have a tax identification number.

(6) The eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries are determined at the time the first distribution is to be made by the retirement system as a result of the death of a decedent in the following order of priority to:

(a) one or more primary designated beneficiaries;

(b) one or more contingent designated beneficiaries; or

(c) one or more alternate beneficiaries.

(7) An individual who is a designated beneficiary may renounce the individual's beneficiary interest. A renunciation must be made of the beneficiary's entire interest. A partial renunciation may not be made. A beneficiary who renounces the beneficiary's interest is deemed to have predeceased the designator.