19-20-1002. Payments upon death of retiree. (1) In the event of the death of a retired member, a death benefit of $500 is payable to the joint annuitant or designated beneficiary.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (4), if the deaths of a retired member and of the joint annuitant or all designated beneficiaries occur before the total retirement allowance payments made to the retired member and to the joint annuitant or all designated beneficiaries equal the amount of the member's accumulated contributions at the time of the member's retirement, the difference between the total retirement allowance paid and the amount of the accumulated contributions must be paid to the estate of the joint annuitant or to the estate of the longest-surviving beneficiary.

(3) If a deceased member had 5 or more years of creditable service and was retired at the time of death, 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.

(4) If the retired member elected a 10-year or 20-year period certain and life retirement allowance, the following provisions apply:

(a) If benefits remain payable upon the death of the retired member, the monthly benefit amount will be paid for the remainder of the period certain to the retired member's designated beneficiary or beneficiaries.

(b) If benefits remain payable upon the death of the retired member's last surviving designated beneficiary, a lump-sum distribution of the amount actuarially determined by the retirement system to be the present value of the remainder of the benefits payable for the period certain must be paid to the court-appointed personal representative of the last surviving beneficiary's estate on behalf of the estate. If the last surviving beneficiary's estate is not probated, the payment must be made to the last surviving beneficiary's next of kin as set forth in 19-20-717.