1. If a member dies prior to the member's first month of entitlement, the accumulated contributions of the member at the date of death plus the product of an amount equal to the highest year of covered wages of the deceased member and the number of years of membership service divided by thirty shall be paid to the member's beneficiary in a lump sum payment. However, a lump sum payment made to a beneficiary under this subsection due to the death of a member shall not be less than the amount that would have been payable on the death of the member on June 30, 1984, under this subsection as it appeared in the 1983 Code.
Effective July 1, 1978, a method of payment under this subsection filed with the department by a member does not apply.
2. If a member dies on or after the first day of the member's first month of entitlement, the excess, if any, of the accumulated contributions by the member as of said date, over the total monthly retirement allowances received by the member under the retirement system will be paid to the member's beneficiary unless the retirement allowance is then being paid in accordance with section 97B.48A or with section 97B.51, subsection 1, 4, 5, or 6.
3. a. Other than as provided in subsections 1 and 2 of this section, or section 97B.51, all rights to any benefits under the retirement system shall cease upon the death of a member.
b. If a death benefit is due and payable, interest shall continue to accumulate through the month preceding the month in which payment is made to the designated beneficiary, heirs at law, or the estate unless the payment of the death benefit is delayed because of a dispute between alleged heirs, in which case the benefit due and payable shall be placed in a noninterest bearing escrow account until the beneficiary is determined in accordance with this section. In order to receive the death benefit, the beneficiary, heirs at law, or the estate, or any other third-party payee, must apply to the department within two years of the member's death.
4. If the department cannot locate the beneficiary within eighteen months following the member's death and receipt of verification that a certified letter with return receipt requested, addressee only, has been mailed to the beneficiary, the department shall pay to the estate of the deceased member the amount otherwise designated to be received by the beneficiary. If a beneficiary is known to exist but cannot be notified, the department shall not pay the death benefits to the estate.
5. Following written notification to the department, a beneficiary of a deceased member may waive current and future rights to payments to which the beneficiary would otherwise be entitled under sections 97B.51 and this section. Upon receipt of the waiver, the department shall pay to the estate of the deceased member the amount designated to be received by the beneficiary.
6. If a member has not filed a designation of beneficiary with the department, the death benefit is payable to the member's estate. If no designation has been filed and an estate is not probated, the death benefit shall be paid to the surviving spouse, if any. If no designation has been filed, no estate has been probated, and there is no surviving spouse, the death benefit shall be paid to the heirs. Otherwise, the death benefit shall remain in the fund.
[C46, 50, § 97.14--;97.18, 97.39; C54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 97B.52]
84 Acts, ch 1285, § 14, 15; 90 Acts, ch 1240, § 38; 92 Acts, ch 1201, § 51--;54; 95 Acts, ch 102, §9
Referred to in § 97B.49, 97B.53
1995 amendments to subsections 1 and 2 apply retroactively to January 1, 1995; 95 Acts, ch 102, §11
Iowa General Assembly
Search: Iowa Code 1995SUPPLEMENT
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