An Act to amend section 376 of title 28, United States Code, in order to reform and update the existing program for annuities to survivors of Federal Justices and judges.
PL 94-554 (S.12), enacted 10/19/1976

PUBLIC LAW 94^554—OCT. 19, 1976 
90 STAT. 2603 
Public Law 94-554 
94th Congress 
An Act 
To amend section 376 of title 28, United States Code, in order to reform and 
update tlie existing program for annuities to survivors of Federal Justices 
and judges. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled. That this Act may 
be cited as the "Judicial Survivors' Annuities Reform Act". 
SEC. 2. That section 376 of title 28 of the United States Code is 
amended to read as follows: 
"§ 376. Annuities for survivors of certain judicial officials of the 
United States 
" (a) For the purposes of this section— 
" (1) ' 
j udicial official' means: 
"(A) a Justice or judge of the United States, as defined 
by section 451 of this title; 
"(B) a judge of the United States District Court for the 
District of the Canal Zone, the District Court of Guam, or 
the District Court of the Virgin Islands; 
"(C) a Director of the Administrative Office of the Ignited 
States Courts, after he or she has filed a waiver under sub-
section (a) of section 611 of this title; 
"(D) a Director of the Federal Judicial Center, after he 
or she has filed a waiver under subsection (b) of section 627 
of this title; or 
"(E) an administrative assistant to the Chief Justice of 
the United States, after he or she has filed a waiver in accord-
ance with both subsection (a) of section 677 and subsection 
(a) of section 611 of this title; 
who notifies the Director of the Administrative Office of the 
United States Courts in writing of his or her intention to come 
within the purview of this section within six months after (i) the 
date upon which he or she takes office, (ii) the date upon which 
he or she marries, or (iii) the date upon which the Judicial Sur-
vivors' Annuities Reform Act becomes effective; 
" (2) 'retirement salary' means: 
"(A) in the case of a Justice or judge of the United States, 
as defined by section 451 of this title, salary paid (i) after 
retirement from regular active service under subsection (b) 
of section 371 or subsection (a) of section 372 of this title, or 
(ii) after retirement from office by resignation on salary 
under subsection (a) of section 371 of this title; 
"(B) in the case of a judge of the United States District 
Court for the District of the Canal Zone, the District Court of 
Guam, or the District Court of the Virgin Islands, salary 
paid after retirement from office (i) by resignation on salary 
under section 373 of this title or (ii) by removal or failure of 
reappointment after not less than ten years' judicial service; 
"(C) in the case of a Director of the Administrative Office 
of the United States Courts, an annuity paid under subsec-
tion (b) or (c) of section 611 of this title; 
Oct. 19. 1976 
[S. 12] 
Judicial 
Survivors' 
Annuities Reform 
Act. 
28 u s e 376 note. 
Definitions. 
28 
use 
451. 
28 
use 
611. 
28 
use 
627. 
28 
use 
677. 
Written 
notification. 
28 use 372. 
28 use 371. 
28 use 373. 
90 STAT. 2604 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
"(D) in the case of a Director of the Federal Judicial Cen-
ter, an annuity paid under subsection (c) or (d) of section 
627 of this title; and 
"(E) in the case of an administrative assistant to the 
Chief Justice of the United States, an annuity paid in accord-
ance with both subsection (a) of section 677 and subsection 
28 use 677, 
(a) of section 611 of this title; 
611. 
"(3) 'widow' means the surviving wife of a 'judicial official', 
who: 
"(A) has been married to him for at least one year on the 
day of his death; or 
"(B) is the mother of issue by that marriage; 
"(4) 'widower' means the surviving husband of a 'judicial 
official', who: 
"(A) has been married to her for at least one year on the 
day of her death; or 
"(B) is the father of issue by that marriage ; 
"(5) 'child' means: 
"(A) an unmarried child under eighteen years of age, 
including (i) an adopted child and (ii) a stepchild or recog-
nized natural child who lived with the judicial official in a 
regular parent-child relationship; 
"(B) such unmarried child between eighteen and twenty-
two years of age who is a student regularly pursuing a full* 
time course of stud^ or training in residence in a high school, 
trade school, technical or vocational institute, junior college, 
college, university, or comparable educational institution. A 
child whose twenty-second birthday occurs before July 1, or 
after August 31, of a calendar year, and while he or she is 
regularly pursuing such a course of study or training, is 
deemed to have become twenty-two years of age on the first 
day of July immediately following that birthday. A child 
who is a student is deemed not to have ceased being a student 
during an interim period between school years, if that interim 
period lasts no longer than five consecutive months and if 
that child shows, to the satisfaction of the Director of the 
Administrative Office of the United States Courts, that he or 
she has a bona fide intention of continuing to pursue a course 
of study or training in the same or a different school during 
the school semester, or other period into which the school 
year is divided, immediately following that interim period; 
or 
"(C) such unmarried child, regardless of age, who is 
incapable of self-support because of a mental or physical 
disability incurred either (i) before age eighteen, or (ii) in 
the case of a child who is receiving an annuity as a full-time 
student under subparagraph (5) (B) of this subsection, 
before the termination of that annuity. 
"(b) Every judicial official who files a written notification of his or 
her intention to come within the purview of this section, in accordance 
with paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this section, shall be deemed 
thereby to consent and agree to having deducted and withheld from 
his or her salary, including any 'retirement salary', a sum e(^ual to 
4.5 percent of that salary. The amounts so deducted and withheld from 
the salary of each such judicial official shall, in accordance with such 
procedures as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the 
United States, be covered into the Treasury of the United States and 
credited to the 'Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund' established by 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
90 STAT. 2605 
section 3 of the Judicial Survivors' Annuities Keform Act. Such fund Post, p. 2611, 
shall be used for the payment of annuities, refunds, and allowances 
as provided by this section. Payment of such salary less such deduc-
tions shall be a full and complete discharge and acquittance of all 
claims and demands whatsoever for all services rendered by such 
judicial official during the period covered by such payment, except 
the rights to those benefits to which such judicial official, or his or her 
survivors, shall be entitled under the provisions of this section. 
"(c) There shall also be deposited to the credit of the 'Judicial Sur-
vivors' Annuities Fund', in accordance with such procedures as may 
be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States, 
amounts matching those deducted and withheld in accordance with 
subsection (b) of this section. Such deposits shall be taken from the 
fund used to pay the compensation of the judicial official, and shall 
immediately become an integrated part of the 'Judicial Survivors' 
Annuities Fund' for any use required under this section. 
"(d) Each judicial official shall deposit, with interest at 4 percent 
per annum to December 31, 1947, and at 3 percent per annum there-
after, compounded on December 31 of each year, to the credit of the 
'Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund': 
"(1) a sum equal to 4.5 percent of that salary, including'retire-
ment salary', which he or she has received for serving in any of 
the offices designated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this 
section prior to the date upon which he or she filed notice of an 
intention to come within the purview of this section with the 
Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts; 
and 
" (2) a sum equal to 4.5 percent of the basic salary, pay, or com-
pensation which he or she has received for serving as a Senator, 
Kepresentative, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner in Congress, 
or for serving as an 'employee', as that term is defined in subsection 
(1) of section 8331 of title 5, prior to assuming the responsibilities 
of any of the offices designated in paragraph (1) of subsection 
(a) of this section. 
The interest otherwise required by this subsection shall not be 
required for any period during which a judicial official was separated 
from all such service and was not receiving any retirement salary. 
"Each such judicial official may elect to make such deposits in install-
ments, during the continuance of his or her service in those offices 
designated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this section, in such 
amounts and under such conditions as may be determined in each 
instance by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United 
States Courts: Provided, That, in each instance in which a judicial 
official does elect to make such deposits in installments, the Director 
shall require (i) that the first installment payment made shall be in 
an amount no smaller than that amount necessary to cover at least 
the last eighteen months of prior creditable civilian service, and (ii) 
that at least one additional installment payment shall be made every 
eighteen months thereafter until the total of all such deposits have 
been made. 
"Notwithstanding the failure of any such judicial official to make 
all such deposits or installment payments, credit shall be allowed for 
the service rendered, but the annuity of that judicial official's widow 
or widower shall be reduced by an amount equal to 10 percent of the 
amount of such deposits, computed as of the date of the death of such 
judicial official, imless such widow or widower shall elect to eliminate 
such service entirely from credit under subsection (k) of this section: 
89-194 0_78—pt. 2 
72 
90 STAT. 2606 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
fiiK .- .. 
Provided^ That no deposit shall be required from any such judicial 
official for any honorable active duty service in the Army, Navy, Air 
Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States, or for any 
other creditable service rendered prior to August 1, 1920. 
"(e) The amounts deducted and withheld in accordance with sub-
section (b) of this section, and the amounts deposited in accordance 
with subsection (d) of this section, shall be credited to individual 
accounts in the name of each judicial official from whom such amounts 
are received, for credit to the 'Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund'. 
"(f) The Secretary of the Treasury shall invest, from time to time, 
in interest bearing securities of the United States or Federal farm 
loan bonds, those portions of the 'Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund' 
which in his judgment may not be immediately re(juired for the pay-
ment of annuities, refunds, and allowances as provided in this section. 
The income derived from such investments shall constitute a part of 
such fund for the purposes of paying annuities and carrying out the 
provisions of subsections (g), (h), (m), (o), (p), and (q) of this 
section. 
"(g) If any judicial official resigns from office without receiving 
any 'retirement salary,' all amounts credited to his or her individual 
account, together with interest at 4 percent per annum to December 31, 
1947; and at 3 percent annum thereafter, compounded on Decem-
ber 31 of each year, to the date of his or her relinquishment of offics, 
shall be returned to that judicial official in a lump-sum payment within 
a reasonable period of time following the date of his or her relinquish-
"Reasonable 
ment of office. For the purposes of this subsection a 'reasonable period 
period of time." 
of time' shall be presumed to be no longer than one year following the 
date upon which such judicial official relinquished his or her office. 
"(h) Annuities payable under this section shall be paid only in 
accordance with the following provisions: 
"(1) In any case in which a judicial official dies while in office, 
or while receiving 'retirement salary,' after having completed at 
least eighteen months of creditable civilian service, as computed 
in accordance with subsection (k) of this section, fof the last 
eighteen months of which the salary deductions provided by sub-
section (b) of this section or, in lieu thereof, the deposits required 
by subsection (d) of this section have actually been made— 
"(A) if such judicial official is survived by a widow or 
widower, but not by a child, there shall be paid to such widow 
or widower an annuity, beginning on the day on which such 
judicial official died, in an amount computed as provided in 
subsection (1) of this section; or 
"(B) if such judicial official is survived by a widow or 
widower and a child or children, there shall be paid to such 
widow or widower an annuity, beginning on the day on which 
such judicial official died, in an amount computed as pro-
vided in subsection (1) of this section, and there shall also be 
paid to or on behalf of each such child an immediate annuity 
equal to: 
"(i) $1,548: or 
"(ii) $4,644, divided by the number of children; 
whichever is smallest; or 
"(C) if such judicial official leaves no surviving widow 
or widower, but does leave a surviving child or children, 
there shall be paid to or on behalf of each such child an 
immediate annuity equal to: 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554^0CT. 19, 1976 
90 STAT. 2607 
"(i) the amount of the annuity to which the judicial 
official's widow or widower would have been entitled 
under subparagraph (1)(A) of this subsection, had 
such widow or widower survived the judicial official, 
divided by the number of children; or 
"(ii) $1,860; or 
"(iii) $5,580, divided by the number of children; 
whichever is smallest. 
"(2) An annuity payable to a widow or widower under sub-
paragraphs (1) (A) or (1) (B) of this subsection shall be ter-
minated upon his or her death or remarriage. 
"(3) An annuity payable to a child under this subsection shall 
terminate: 
"(A) if such child is receiving an annuity based upon 
his or her status under subparagraph (5) (A) of subsection 
(a) of this section, on the last day of the nionth during which 
he or she becomes eighteen years of age; 
"(B) if such child is receiving an annuity based upon 
his or her status under subparagraph (5) (B) of subsection 
(a) of this section, either (i) on the first day of Jiily 
immediately following his or her twenty-second birthday or 
(ii) on the last day of the month during which he or she ceases 
to be a full-time student in accordance with subparagraph 
(5) (B) of subsection (a) of this section, whichever occurs 
first: Provided, That if such child is rendered incapable 
of self-support because of a mental or physical disability 
incurred while receiving that annuity, that annuity shall not 
terminate, but shall continue without interruption and shall 
be deemed to have become, as of the date of disability, an 
annuity based upon his or her status under clause (ii) of 
subparagraph (5) (C) of subsection (a) of this section; 
"(C) if such child is receiving an annuity based upon his 
or her status under subparagraph (5) (C) of subsection (a) 
of this section, on the last day of the month during which 
he or she ceases to be incapable of self-support because of 
^ 
mental or physical disability; or 
"(D) on the last day of the month during which such child 
dies or marries. 
" (4) An annuity payable to a child or children under subpara-
graph (1) (B) of this subsection shall be recomputed and paid as 
provided in subparagraph (1) (C) of this subsection upon the 
death, but not upon the remarriage, of the widow or widower who 
is receiving an annuity under subparagraph (1) (B) of this 
subsection. 
"(5) In any case in which the annuity of a child is terminated, 
the annuity of each remaining child which is based upon the serv-
ice of the same judicial official shall be recomputed and paid as 
though the child whose annuity has been terminated had not 
survived that judicial official, 
"(i) All questions of dependency and disability arising under this 
section shall be determined by the Director of the Administrative 
Office of the United States Courts, subject to review only by the Judi-
cial Conference of the United States, and the decision of the Judicial 
Conference of the United States shall be final and conclusive. The 
Director may order or direct at any time such medical or other exam-
inations as he deems necessary to determine the facts relative to 
the nature and degree of disability of any child who is an annuitant, 
or an applicant for an annuity, under this section, and may suspend or 
90 STAT. 2608 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
deny any such annuity for failure to submit to any such examination, 
"(j) In any case in which a payment under this section is to be 
made to a minor, or to a person mentally incompetent or under other 
legal disability, as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, 
such payment may be made to the person who is constituted guardian 
or other fiduciary of such claimant by the laws of the State of residence 
of such claimant, or to any other person who is otherwise legally 
vested with the care of the claimant or of the claimant's estate, and need 
not be made directly to such claimant. The Director of the Adminis-
trative Office of the United States Courts may, at his or her discretion, 
determine whether such payment is made directly to such claimant or 
to such guardian, fiduciary, or other person legally vested with the 
care of such claimant or the claimant's estate. Where no guardian or 
other fiduciary of such minor or such person under legal disability has 
been appointed under the laws of the State of residence of such 
claimant, the Director of the Administrative Office of the United 
States Courts shall determine the person who is otherwise legally 
vested with the care of the claimant or of the claimant's estate. 
"(k) The years of service rendered by a judicial official which may 
be creditable in calculating the amount of an annuity for such judi-
cial official's widow or widower under subsection (1) of this section 
shall include— 
"(1) those years during which such judicial official served in 
any of the offices designated in paragraph (1) af subsection (a) of 
this section, including in the case of a Justice or judge of the 
United States those years during which he or she continued to 
hold office following retirement from regular active service under 
subsection (b) of section 371 or subsection (a) of section 372 of 
28 use 371, 
this title; 
372. 
" (2) those years during which such judicial official served as a 
Senator, Representative, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner in 
Congress, prior to assuming the responsibilities of any of the offi-
ces designated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this section; 
"(3) those years during which such judicial official honorably 
served on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine 
Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States, prior to assuming the 
responsibilities of any of the offices designated in paragraph (1) 
of subsection (a) of this section: Promded, That those years of 
such military service for which credit has been allowed for the 
purposes of retirement or retired pay under any other provision of 
law shall not be included as allowable years of such service under 
this section; and 
•'(4) those years during which such judicial official served as 
an 'employee', as that term is defined in subsection (1) of section 
8331 of title 5, prior to assuming the responsibilities of any of the 
offices designated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this 
section. 
"Years." 
For the purposes of this subsection the term 'years' shall mean full 
years and twelfth parts thereof, excluding from the aggregate any 
fractional part of a month which numbers less than fifteen full days 
and including, as one full month, any fractional part of a month which 
numbers fifteen full days or more. Nothing in this subsection shall be 
interpreted as waiving or canceling that reduction in the annuity of a 
widow or widower which is required by subsection (d) of this section 
due to the failure of a judicial official to make those deposits required 
by subsection (d) of this section. 
"(1) The annuity of a widow or widower of a judicial official shall 
be an amount equal to the sum of— 
- 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
90 STAT. 2609 
" (1) 114 percent of the average annual salary, including retire-
ment salary, which such judicial official received for serving in 
any of the offices designated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) 
of this section (i) during those three years of such service in 
which his or her annual salary was greatest, or (ii) if such judi-
cial official has so served less than three years, but more than 
eighteen months, then during the total period of such service pjrior 
to his or her death, multiplied by the total of: 
"(A) the number of years of creditable service tabulated 
in accordance with paragraph (1) of subsection (k) of this 
section; plus 
"(B) the number of years of creditable service tabulated in 
accordance with paragraph (2) of subsection (k) of this sec-
tion,'plus 
"(C) the number of years of creditable service tabulated in 
accordance with paragraph (3) of subsection (k) of this sec-
tion ; plus 
"(D) the number of years up to, but not exceeding, fifteen 
of creditable service tabulated in accordance with paragraph 
(4) of subsection (k) of this section, 
plus: 
"(2) three-fourths of 1 percent of such average annual salary, 
multiplied by the number of years of any prior creditable service, 
as tabulated in accordance with subsection (k) of this section, not 
applied under paragraph (1) of this subsection: 
Provided^ That such annuity snail not exceed 40 percent of such aver-
age annual salary and shall be further reduced in accordance with sub-
section (d) of this section, if applicable. 
" (m) Whenever the salary paid for service in one of the offices desig-
nated in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this section is increased, 
each annuity payable from the 'Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund', 
which is based, in whole or in part, upon a deceased judicial official 
having rendered some portion of his or her final eighteen months of 
service in that same office, shall also be increased. The actual amount 
of the increase in such an annuity shall be determined by multiply-
ing the amount of the annuity, on the date on which the increase in 
salary becomes effective, by 3 percent for each 5 percent by which such 
salary has been increased. In the event that such salary is increased by 
less than 5 percent, there shall be no increase in such annuity. 
"(n) Each annuity authorized under this section shall accrue 
monthly and shall be due and payable in monthly installments on the 
first business day of the month following the month or other period 
for which the annuity shall have accrued. No annuity authorized 
under this section s'hall be assignable, either in law or in equity, or sub-
ject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, 
"(o) In any case in which a judicial official dies while in office, or 
while receiving 'retirement salary', and; 
"(1) before having completed eighteen months of civilian serv-
ice, computed in accordance with subsection (k) of this section, 
during which the salary deductions provided by subsection (b) 
of this section or the deposit required by subsection (d) of this 
section have actually been made; or 
" (2) after having completed eighteen months of civilian serv-
ice, computed in accordance with subsection (k) of this section, 
during which all such deductions or deposits have been made, but 
without a survivor or survivors who are entitled to receive the 
annuity benefits provided by subsection (h) of this section; or 
90 STAT. 2610 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
"(3) th.e rights of all persons entitled to receive the annuity 
benefits provided by subsection (h) of this section terminate 
before a valid claim therefor has been established; 
the total amount credited to the individual account of that judicial 
official, established under subsection (e) of this section, with interest 
at 4 percent per annum to December 31, 1947, and at 3 percent per 
annum thereafter, compounded on December 31, of each year, to the 
date of that judicial official's death, shall be paid, upon the establish-
ment of a valid claim therefor, to the person or persons surviving at 
the date title to the payment arises, in the following order of 
precedence: 
"First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries whom that judicial 
official may have designated in a writing received by the Admin-
istrative Office of the United States Courts prior to his or her 
death; 
"Second, if there be no such beneficiary, to the widow or wid-
ower of such j udicial official; 
"Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of such 
judicial official and the descendants of any deceased children by 
representation; 
"Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of such judicial 
official or the survivor of them; 
"Fifth, if none of the above, to the duly appointed executor, 
i 
executrix, administrator, or administratrix of tne estate of such 
1 
judicial official; 
I 
"Sixth, if none of the above, to such other next of kin of such 
judicial official, as may be determined by the Director of the 
\ 
Administrative Office of the United States Courts to be entitled 
\ 
to such payment, under the laws of the domicile of such judicial 
official, at the time of his or her death. 
5 
Suich payment shall be a bar to recovery by any other person. For the 
purposes of this subsection only, a determination that an individual 
IS a widow, widower, or child of a judicial official may be made by 
the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts 
without regard to the definitions of those terms contained in para-? 
graphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (a) of this section. 
" (p) In any case in which all the annuities wMch hre authorized by 
this section and based upon the service of a given official terminate 
before the aggregate amount of annuity payments received by the 
annuitant or annuitants equals the total amount credited to the indi-
vidual account of such judicial official, established under subsection 
(e) of this section with interest at 4 percent per annum to December 31, 
1947, and at 3 percent per annum thereafter, compounded on Decem-
ber 31, of each year, to the date of that judicial official's death, the 
difference between such total amount, with such interest, and such 
aggrea^ate amount shall be paid, upon establishment of a valid claim 
therefor, in the order of precedence prescribed in subsection (o) of 
this section. 
"(q) Any accrued annuity benefits remaining unpaid upon the 
termination of an annuity, other than by the death of an annuitant, 
shall be paid to that annuitant. Any accrued annuity benefits remain-
ing unpaid upon the death of an annuitant shall be paid, upon the 
establishment of a valid claim therefor, in the following order of 
precedence: 
"First, to the duly appointed executor, executrix, administrator, 
or administratrix of the estate of such annuitant; 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
90 STAT. 2611 
"Second, if there is no such executor, executrix, administrator, 
or administratrix, payments shall be made, after the expiration 
of sixty days from the date of death of such annuitant, to such 
individual or individuals as may appear, in the judgment of the 
Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 
to be legally entitled thereto, and such payment shall be a bar to 
recovery by any other individual, 
"(r) Nothing contained in this section shall be interpreted to pre-
vent a widow or widower eligible for an annuity under this section 
from simultaneously receiving such an annuity while also receiving 
anj^ other annuity to which such widow or widower may also be 
entitled under any other law without regard to this section: Provided^ 
That service used in the computation of the annuity conferred by this 
section shall not also be credited in computing any such other 
annuity.". 
SEC. 3. That on the date upon which this Act becomes effective there 
shall be established on the books of the Treasury a fund which shall be 
known as "The Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund", and all money 
credited to the judicial survivors annuity fund established by section 2 
of the Act of August 3, 1956 (70 Stat. 1021), as amended, shall be 
transferred to the credit of the Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund 
established by this section. 
SEC. 4. That on the date upon which this Act becomes effective the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall ascertain from the Director of the 
Administrative Office of the United States Courts the amount of the 
actuarial deficiency in the fund transferred by section 3 of this Act 
on the date of that fund's transfer and, at the earliest time thereafter 
at which appropriated funds in that amount shall become available, 
the Secretary shall deposit such funds, in a single payment, into the 
Judicial Survivors' Annuities Fund established by section 3 of this 
Act. Such funds as are necessary to carry out this section are hereby 
authorized to be appropriated. 
SEC. 5. That on the date upon which this Act becomes effective each 
annuity then being paid to a widow from the judicial survivors 
annuity fund established by section 2 of the Act of August 3, 1956 
(70 Stat. 1021), as amended, shall be increased by an amount equal to 
one-fifth of 1 percent of the amount of such annuity multiplied by 
the number of months which have passed since the commencement 
of that annuity. For the purposes of this section, any fractional part 
of a month which numbers less than fifteen full days shall be excluded 
from the computation of the number of months and any fractional 
part of a month which numbers fifteen full days or more shall be 
included in the computation as one full month. Such funds as are 
necessary to carry out this section are authorized to be appropriated 
and, upon appropriation, shall be deposited by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, in a single payment, to credit of the Judicial Survivors' 
Annuities Fund established by section 3 of this Act. 
SEC. 6. That the benefits conferred by this Act shall, on the date upon 
which this Act becomes effective, immediately become available to any 
individual then receiving an annuity under section 2 of the Act of 
August 3, 1956 (70 Stat. 1021), as amended: Provided^ That although 
the rights of any judicial official electing to come within the purview 
of section 376 of title 28, United States Code, on or after the date upon 
which this Act becomes effective, shall be determined exclusively under 
the provisions of that section as amended by this Act, nothing in this 
Act shall be interpreted to cancel, abrogate, or diminish xny rights 
to which an individual or his or her survivors may be exicitled by vir-
tue of that individuals having contributed to the judicial survivors 
The Judicial 
Survivors' 
Annuities Fund. 
Establishment. 
28 u s e 376 note. 
28 u s e 376. 
28 u s e 376 note. 
28 u s e 376 note. 
28 u s e 376 note. 
90 STAT. 2612 
PUBLIC LAW 94-554—OCT. 19, 1976 
annuity fund established by section 2 of the Act of August 3,1956 (70 
28 use 376. 
Stat. 1021), as amended, before the date upon which this Act becomes 
effective. 
28 use 376 note. 
SEC. 7. That, at any time within one hundred and eighty days after 
the date upon which this Act becomes effective, any judicial official 
who has, prior to that date, already participated in the judicial sur-
vivors annuity program created by the Act of August 3,1956 (70 Stat. 
1021), as amended, shall be entitled to revoke his or her earlier election 
to participate in that program and thereby completely withdraw from 
participation in the judicial survivors' annuities program created by 
this Act: Provided, That (a) any such revocation may be effected only 
by means of a writing filed with the Director of the Administrative 
Office of the United States Courts, (b) any such writing shall be 
deemed to have become effective no sooner than the date upon which 
that writing is received by the Director, (c) upon receipt of such a 
writing by the Director, any and all rights to survivorship benefits 
for such judicial official's survivors shall terminate, and all amounts 
credited to such judicial official's individual account, together with 
interest at 3 percent per annum, compounded on December 31 of each 
year to that date of revocation, shall thereafter be returned to that 
judicial official in a lump-sum refund payment, and (d) any judicial 
official who effects such a revocation and who subsequently again 
becomes eligible and elects to join the judicial survivors annuities pro-
gram created by this Act under the provisions of section 376 of title 28, 
United States Code, as amended by this Act, shall be permitted to do 
so only upon the redeposit of the full amount of the refund obtained 
under this section plus interest at 3 percent per annum, compounded 
on December 31 of each year from the date of the revocation until the 
date upon which that amount is redeposited. Any judicial official who 
fails to effect a revocation in accordance with the right conferred by 
this section within one hundred and eighty days after the date upon 
which this Act becomes effective shall be deemed to have irrevocably 
waived the right to that revocation. 
Effective date. 
SEC. 8. That this Act shall become effective on the first day of the 
28 use 376 note, third month following the month in which it is enacted, or on Octo-
ber 1,1976, whichever occurs last. 
Approved October 19, 1976. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 94-1604 (Comm. on the Judiciary). 
SENATE REPORT No. 94-799 (Comm. on the Judiciary). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 122 (1976): 
June 22, considered and passed Senate. 
Sept. 29, considered and passed House, amended. 
Oct. 1, Senate concurred m House amendments.