2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees › Article 12B - Judicial Retirement › Section 10-12B-14.3 - Death before retirement; survivor pension.

For a member whose initial term in office begins on or after July 1, 2014:
A. a survivor pension may be paid to certain persons related to or designated by a member who dies before normal or disability retirement if a written application for the pension, in the form prescribed by the association, is filed with the association by the potential survivor beneficiary or beneficiaries within one year of the death of the member. Applications may be filed on behalf of the potential survivor beneficiary or beneficiaries or by a person legally authorized to represent them;
B. if there is no designated survivor beneficiary and the board finds the death to have been the natural and proximate result of causes arising solely and exclusively out of and in the course of the member's performance of duty while in office, a survivor pension shall be payable to the eligible surviving spouse. The amount of the survivor pension shall be the greater of:
(1) the amount as calculated pursuant to the Judicial Retirement Act and applicable to the deceased member at the time of death as though the deceased member had retired the day preceding death under form of payment B using the actual amount of service credit attributable to the deceased member at the time of death; or
(2) fifty percent of the deceased member's final average salary;
C. a survivor pension shall also be payable to eligible surviving children if there is no designated survivor beneficiary and the retirement board finds the death to have been the natural and proximate result of causes arising solely and exclusively out of and in the course of the member's performance of duty while in office. The total amount of survivor pension payable for all eligible surviving children shall be either:
(1) fifty percent of the deceased member's final average salary if an eligible surviving spouse is not paid a pension; or
(2) twenty-five percent of the deceased member's final average salary if an eligible surviving spouse is paid a pension.
The total amount of survivor pension shall be divided equally among all eligible surviving children. If there is only one eligible child, the amount of pension shall be twenty-five percent of the deceased member's final average salary;
D. if the member had the applicable minimum number of years of service credit required for normal retirement, but the retirement board did not find the death to have been the natural and proximate result of causes arising solely and exclusively out of and in the course of the member's performance of duty while in office and there is no designated survivor beneficiary, a survivor pension shall be payable to the eligible surviving spouse. The amount of the survivor pension shall be the greater of:
(1) the amount as calculated under the Judicial Retirement Act applicable to the deceased member at the time of death as though the deceased member had retired the day preceding death under form of payment B using the total amount of actual service credit attributable to the deceased member at the time of death; or
(2) thirty percent of the deceased member's final average salary;
E. if the member had the applicable minimum number of years of service credit required for normal retirement, but the retirement board did not find the death to have been the natural and proximate result of causes arising solely and exclusively out of and in the course of the member's performance of duty while in office and there is no designated survivor beneficiary, and if there is no eligible surviving spouse at the time of death, a survivor pension shall be payable to and divided equally among all eligible surviving children, if any. The total amount of survivor pension payable for all eligible surviving children shall be the greater of:
(1) the amount as calculated under the Judicial Retirement Act applicable to the deceased member at the time of death as though the deceased member had retired the day preceding death under form of payment B with the oldest eligible surviving child as the survivor beneficiary using the total amount of actual service credit attributable to the deceased member at the time of death; or
(2) thirty percent of the deceased member's final average salary;
F. an eligible surviving spouse is the spouse to whom the deceased member was married at the time of death. An eligible surviving child is a child under the age of eighteen years and who is an unmarried, natural or adopted child of the deceased member;
G. an eligible surviving spouse's pension shall terminate upon death. An eligible surviving child's pension shall terminate upon death or marriage or reaching age eighteen years, whichever comes first;
H. if there is no designated survivor beneficiary and there is no eligible surviving child, the eligible surviving spouse may elect to be refunded the deceased member's accumulated member contributions instead of receiving a survivor pension;
I. a member may designate a survivor beneficiary to receive a pre-retirement survivor pension, subject to the following conditions:
(1) a written designation, in the form prescribed by the association, is filed by the member with the association;
(2) if the member is married at the time of designation, the designation shall only be made with the consent of the member's spouse, in the form prescribed by the association;
(3) if the member is married subsequent to the time of designation, any prior designations shall automatically be revoked upon the date of the marriage;
(4) if the member is divorced subsequent to the time of designation, any prior designation of the former spouse or a supplemental needs trust to which the spouse is a beneficiary as survivor beneficiary shall automatically be revoked upon the date of divorce; and
(5) a designation of survivor beneficiary may be changed, with the member's spouse's consent if the member is married, by the member at any time prior to the member's death;
J. if there is a designated survivor beneficiary and the board finds the death to have been the natural and proximate result of causes arising solely and exclusively out of and in the course of the member's performance of duty while in office, a survivor pension shall be payable to the designated survivor beneficiary. The amount of the survivor pension shall be the greater of:
(1) the amount as calculated under the Judicial Retirement Act applicable to the deceased member at the time of death as though the deceased member had retired the day preceding death under form of payment B using the actual amount of service credit attributable to the member at the time of death; or
(2) fifty percent of the deceased member's final average salary;
K. if there is a designated survivor beneficiary, if the member had the applicable minimum number of years of service credit required for normal retirement and if the retirement board did not find the death to have been the natural and proximate result of causes arising solely and exclusively out of and in the course of the member's performance of duty while in office, a survivor pension shall be payable to the designated survivor beneficiary. The amount of the survivor pension shall be the greater of:
(1) the amount as calculated under the Judicial Retirement Act applicable to the deceased member at the time of death as though the deceased member had retired the day preceding death under form of payment B using the actual amount of service credit attributable to the member at the time of death; or
(2) thirty percent of the deceased member's final average salary;
L. if all pension payments permanently terminate before there is paid an aggregate amount equal to the deceased member's accumulated member contributions at time of death, the difference between the amount of accumulated member contributions and the aggregate amount of pension paid shall be paid to the deceased member's refund beneficiary. If no refund beneficiary survives the survivor beneficiary, the difference shall be paid to the estate of the deceased member; and
M. for purposes of this section, "service credit" means only the service credit earned by a member during periods in office as a judge or justice.
History:
1978 Comp., § 10-12B-14.3, enacted by Laws 2014, ch. 35, § 13; 2023, ch. 156, § 10.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective June 16, 2023, allowed a supplemental needs trust to be named as a survivor or refund beneficiary; and in Paragraph I(4), after "designation of the former spouse", added "or a supplemental needs trust to which the spouse is a beneficiary".
Severability.
— Laws 2014, ch. 35, § 16 provided that if any part or application of Laws 2014, ch. 35 is held invalid, the remainder or its application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.