Section 23609.2 - Married persons; pension to surviving spouse(a) Any married person who elects in writing to be governed by the provisions of this amendment and who retires under the provisions of this act shall, at the time of his retirement, receive the pension provided by this act during his lifetime and a pension after his death, payable to his surviving spouse at the time of his death equal to fifty per centum of his pension: Provided, That such person shall have been married to his spouse for not less than two years prior to the date of his death and the spouse was dependent upon such deceased employe at the time of his death.(b) Such surviving spouse shall be entitled to receive payments commencing the first day of the month in which the death of the deceased spouse occurs, and shall continue to and terminate upon the death of such surviving spouse, unless such surviving spouse shall remarry, in which event the board may allocate the pension to dependent children or parents as provided in this act: Provided, however, That in no case shall total payments to a member or his survivors or his estate be less than the deceased member's contribution into the fund.(c) The word "pension" as used in this section shall be construed to mean the sum of the pension provided by this act plus the amount of service increment, if any, to which the married person retiring shall be entitled.(d) In the event there is no surviving spouse, or the surviving spouse dies or remarries while receiving payments under this section, and where there are dependent children of the deceased member of the fund, the board may pay to each such dependent child twenty-five per centum of the pension earned by the deceased member until each such child attains the age of eighteen or marries or dies: Provided, That the board may indefinitely continue payments to a dependent incompetent child. Where the sums payable to dependent children under this section are equal to the maximum pension to which the widow would be entitled, it shall be divided equally among the children entitled thereto. In the event there are no surviving children or no widow entitled to receive the payments provided for in this act, any dependent parents of the deceased member shall receive the monthly payments the widow would have received had she survived and not remarried. In the event that there are no surviving children, widow or dependent parents entitled to receive the payments provided for in this act, the deceased member's contributions or the remainder of his contributions shall be paid to his estate.(e) Any retired member of the Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund who retired prior to August 27, 1963, may, within ninety days after the effective date of this amendment, elect to be governed by the provisions of this subsection, provided such election shall be in writing and that such writing shall be filed with the secretary of the Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund. Each retired member who elects to be governed under the provisions of this subsection shall agree to contribute one-half of one per centum of his monthly pension to the Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund. Upon the death of any retired member who elected in the manner above prescribed to be governed by this subsection, his widow and surviving children shall receive the benefits otherwise provided by this act for widows and children of deceased members who elected to be governed by the amending act of August 27, 1963 (P.L. 1297) and any further amendments thereto. 1933, May 25, P.L. 1050, § 9.2, added 1963, Aug. 27, P.L. 1297, § 1. Amended 1965, Nov. 9, P.L. 679, § 4; 1968, March 21, P.L. 70, No. 26, § 2; 1970, July 1, P.L. 447, No. 153, § 1.