2023 New York Laws › RSS - Retirement and Social Security › Article 2 - New York State Employees' Retirement System › Title 7 - Death Benefits and Disability Retirement › 61 - Accidental Death Benefit.

§ 61. Accidental death benefit. a. An accidental death benefit and the
  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be payable upon the death of a
  member  if,  upon application filed within five years after the death of
  such member, the comptroller  shall  determine,  on  the  basis  of  the
  evidence, that such member:
1.  Died  before  the effective date of his retirement, as the natural
  and proximate result of an accident sustained in the performance of duty
  in the service upon which his membership was based, and
2. Did not cause such accident by his own willful negligence, and
3. At the  time  of  such  accident  was  actually  a  member  of  the
  retirement system.
  Where   the   claimant  is  an  infant  or  is  mentally  or  physically
  incapacitated, and because of the aforesaid disability  application  for
  accidental  death benefit is not filed within the time specified by this
  subdivision, or where a person entitled to make a claim dies before  the
  expiration  of  the time so specified, the comptroller in his discretion
  may grant leave to file such application within a reasonable time  after
  the expiration of the time specified in this subdivision.
Notwithstanding  the  provisions of section two hundred forty-two, two
  hundred forty-three or two hundred forty-four of the military law or the
  provisions of any other law to the contrary and solely for  the  purpose
  of  determining  eligibility  for  an accidental death benefit, a member
  shall be considered to have died as the natural and proximate result  of
  an  accident  sustained  in the performance of duty provided such member
  was on the payroll in the service upon which membership is based at  the
  time  he  or  she was ordered to active duty pursuant to Title 10 of the
  United States Code, with the armed forces of the  United  States  or  to
  service  in the uniformed services pursuant to Chapter 43 of Title 38 of
  the United States Code and died while on such active duty or in  service
  in  the  uniformed  services  on  or after June fourteenth, two thousand
  five.
b.      The      accidental      death      benefit      and       the
  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay  shall  be  payable from the pension
  reserve fund. Such accidential death benefit shall consist of a  pension
  of  one-half  of  the member's final average salary. The payment of such
  pension shall be subject to the provisions of section sixty-four of this
  article. The reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be paid in a lump
  sum to those entitled thereto in accordance with subdivision d  of  this
  section.  The  member's  accumulated  contributions shall be refunded in
  accordance with subdivision d of section fifty-one of this article.
c. The accidental death benefit payable pursuant to  this  section  on
  account of a member whose:
1.  Service  was  on  other  than a full-time basis at the time of his
  death, and
2. Death was the natural and proximate result of an accident sustained
  while a member and while in the performance of duty, shall be  equal  to
  the  benefit  that  would  be  paid  on  account of such member were his
  service on a full-time basis.
d.  The   pension   on   account   of   accidental   death   and   the
  reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be paid to:
1.  The  member's  widow  or  widower  to  continue  during his or her
  widowhood. If he or she shall leave no widow or widower, or  if  his  or
  her widow or widower shall die or remarry before all his or her children
  shall have attained age eighteen or sooner die, then to
2.  His  or  her child or children under age eighteen, divided in such
  manner as the comptroller, in  his  discretion,  shall  determine.  Such
  pension  shall continue as a joint and survivor pension until every such
  child shall have attained age eighteen or sooner die.  If  no  widow  or

  widower  or  child  under age eighteen shall survive such member, at the
  time of his or her death, then to
3. His or her dependent father or dependent mother, as he or she shall
  have  nominated  by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with
  the comptroller. Such pension shall continue for the life of the  parent
  so designated. If there be no such designation, then to
4.   His   or  her  dependent  father  or  dependent  mother,  as  the
  comptroller, in his discretion,  shall  determine.  Such  pension  shall
  continue for the life of the parent so selected.