Section 23654.1 - Married persons; pension to surviving spouse and dependent children(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 or her retirement, receive the pension provided by this act during his or her lifetime and a pension after his or her death, payable to his or her surviving spouse at the time of the member's death, equal to fifty per centum of his or her pension: Provided, That such person so retiring shall have been married to his or her spouse for not less than two years prior to the date of death and the spouse was dependent upon such deceased employee at the time of death.(a.1) Any retired member of the Police 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 Police Pension Fund. Each retired member who elects to be governed under the provisions of this subsection shall agree to contribute one-half of one percent of his monthly pension to the Police Pension Fund. Upon the death of any retired member who elected in the manner above prescribed to be governed by this subsection, the surviving spouse and surviving children shall receive the benefits otherwise provided by this act for surviving spouses 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.(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, in which event the board shall allocate the pension to dependent children or parents as provided in this act: Provided, That in no case shall total payments to a member or his or her survivors or his or her estate be less than the deceased member's contribution into the fund.(c) In the event there is no surviving spouse, or the surviving spouse dies while receiving payments under this section, and where there are dependent children of the deceased member of the fund, the board shall pay to each such dependent child twenty-five per centum of the pension earned by the deceased member until the age of eighteen or death: Provided, That the board shall 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 surviving spouse would be entitled, it shall be divided equally among the children entitled thereto.
In the event there are no surviving children and no surviving spouse entitled to receive the payments provided for in this act, any dependent parents of the deceased member shall receive the monthly payments the surviving spouse would have received had he or she survived.
(d) 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.1935, May 22, P.L. 233, § 11.1, added 1963, Aug. 27, P.L. 1299, § 1. Amended 1965, Nov. 9, P.L. 687, § 5; 1970, July 8, P.L. 455, No. 156, § 1; 2006, Oct. 27, P.L. 1202, No. 130, § 2, effective in 60 days [Dec. 26, 2006].