Last month's topic covered concerns regarding benefits for your family members and survivors if you die before retirement. I discussed the need to keep your beneficiary current, and the possible lump sum or one-time benefits members might have. This article details ongoing monthly benefits that may be available to survivors and beneficiaries.

There are Four Types of Monthly benefits:

• 1959 Survivor Benefit
• Pre-Retirement Option 2W Death Benefit
• Alternate Death Benefit
• Special Death Benefit

Keep in mind that not everyone has these benefits. These are benefits available to Unit 8 members.

1959 Survivor Benefit - The State contracts for the 1959 Survivor Benefit. This benefit is available because Social Security does not cover Unit 8 members, and you will see a deduction for this on your pay warrant.

This benefit is available to your spouse, RDP, children, and in rare situations, dependent parents. You must be married for at least a year before your death. A surviving spouse (RDP) can remarry and continue to receive their allowance. This benefit is taxable. They also must either have care of an eligible child or be at least age 62.

For your children to be eligible, they must be unmarried and under the age of 22. Once they reach age 18, annual marital and residential status verification is required. If they marry before age 22, the benefit stops. If only paying children, the total benefit is paid equally amongst all eligible children. Benefits can continue for disabled children but they must be unmarried and incapacitated because of a disability beginning before age 22 and incapable of gainful employment.

1959 Benefit Payments All State Employees Are in Level 5

Pre-Retirement Option 2W Death Benefit – This benefit is a monthly allowance equal to the amount you would have received had you retired on your date of death and elected the option 2W. This calculation also includes any unused sick leave that can be converted. Option 2W was a retirement payment option discontinued in 2018, but this death benefit is still available. Option 2W says that your eligible survivor would receive 100 percent of what you would have received had you retired. You must be eligible to retire at the time of your passing. It is the same as the current 100% beneficiary option without a pop to the unmodified amount.

Alternate Death Benefit - State Member - The Alternate Death Benefit is available to survivors of state members. You must be under the minimum retirement age and have 20 or more years of state service credit, and unit 8 is eligible for this benefit.

This monthly benefit equals the amount you would have received had you retired on a service retirement at your minimum retirement age and chosen option 2W. The minimum retirement age is 50 or 52 if hired after January 1, 2013. (But you only get the years of service you earned. You cannot add the extra years until retirement age).

This benefit is payable to your spouse or RDP. Upon their death, the benefit can continue to your natural or adopted unmarried children under age 18. If there is no spouse or RDP, but you are survived by unmarried children under age 18, they will receive one-half of what your unmodified allowance would have been had you retired at your minimum retirement age until they turn 18.

Special Death Benefit – The Special Death Benefit is a monthly allowance that equals 50 percent or more of your final compensation.

If there are eligible surviving children in addition to a spouse RDP, the allowance may be increased to a maximum of 75 percent. This is known as an Additional Special Death Benefit (If the death was the result of a violent act).

If no spouse or RDP is eligible for this benefit, any eligible children would only be eligible for 50 percent of your final compensation. This benefit is payable when any safety member's cause of death is determined to be job-related. You do not have to be eligible to retire for this benefit to be payable.

Although this benefit is equal to 50 percent of your final compensation, this benefit is tax-free, whereas each of the other three benefits is taxable. These are only the benefits available from CalPERS. In the event of a work-related death, your family may have other benefits available to them, such as worker's compensation death benefits. If the death occurs on an active incident, federal benefits may be available from the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program. This provides death and education benefits to survivors of fallen officers, firefighters, & other first responders, and disability benefits to officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty. This is not for work-related cumulative death injuries.

If you have any retiree topics you would like to hear about in future issues, please email Brian Burger at bburger@l2881.org.

BENEVOLENT DONOR SPOTLIGHT

Danish Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• White sparkling sugar

Directions:

1. Place the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). With a hand mixer (or stand mixer with a paddle attachment) on medium-high speed, beat until very light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well to combine. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing on low to combine completely in between each addition. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed. 
2. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large, star tip (with a wide opening). Pipe the dough in a circle shape, about 2" in diameter, overlapping by about 1/2-inch at the edges. Sprinkle all over with sparkling sugar. Refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes (or freeze for 15 minutes) in order to firm up and prevent spreading while baking.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are just lightly golden. Let cool on a sheet tray for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, store in an air-tight container in a single layer, between layers of parchment paper, at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Recipe found via The Pioneer Woman.