New York Laws
Article 15 - Coordinated Retirement Plan
610 - Options.

§ 610. Options. a. Until the effective date of retirement a member may
elect to receive the actuarial equivalent of the retirement allowance at
the time of retirement, in the form of a smaller retirement allowance
payable to such member for life and one of the following optional
settlements;

Option one. Upon the member's death, a retirement allowance in an
amount equal to that paid to the member shall be paid for life to such
person as he shall nominate by written designation duly acknowledged and
filed with the retirement system at the time of retirement.

Option two. Upon the member's death, a retirement allowance of
seventy-five percent or less (measured in increments of twenty-five
percent) of the amount paid to such member shall be paid for life to
such person as he shall nominate by written designation duly
acknowledged and filed with the retirement system at the time of
retirement.

Option three. A five-year certain option under which payment is made
to the member for life but is guaranteed for a minimum of five years
following retirement. Such payments shall continue to a person as he
shall nominate by written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with
the retirement system, for the unexpired balance of the five-year
guaranteed period. If said beneficiary should predecease him, the
commuted value of any installments due during the unexpired balance of
the five-year guaranteed period shall be paid in a single sum to a duly
designated contingent beneficiary or if none exists to the legal
representative of the member. Should a beneficiary who has commenced
receipt of the payments die before the said guaranteed minimum period,
the commuted value of any installments due during the unexpired balance
of the five-year guaranteed period shall be paid in a single sum to a
duly designated contingent beneficiary or if none exists, to the legal
representative of said deceased primary beneficiary.

Option four. A ten-year certain option under which payment is made to
the member for life but is guaranteed for a minimum of ten years
following retirement. Such payments shall continue to a person as he
shall nominate by written designation, duly acknowledged and filed with
the retirement system, for the unexpired balance of the ten-year
guaranteed period. If said beneficiary should predecease him, the
commuted value of any installments due during the unexpired balance of
the ten-year guaranteed period shall be paid in a single sum to a duly
designated contingent beneficiary or if none exists to the legal
representative of the member. Should a beneficiary who has commenced
receipt of the payments die before the said guaranteed minimum period,
the commuted value of any installments due during the unexpired balance
of the ten-year guaranteed period shall be paid in a single sum to a
duly designated contingent beneficiary or if none exists to the legal
representative of said deceased primary beneficiary.

Option five. Upon the member's death, a retirement allowance in an
amount equal to fifty percent or one hundred percent of that paid to the
member shall be paid for life to such person as he shall nominate by
written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the retirement
system at the time of retirement. Upon the death, prior to the death of
the member, of said person so nominated, the member shall begin
receiving, in lieu of the allowance then payable, an allowance equal in
amount to that which would have been payable if no optional modification
of the retirement allowance were in effect.

a-1. A member of the New York state teachers' retirement system or the
New York state and local employees' retirement system who retires
pursuant to the provisions of this article, may elect, in lieu of the

options set forth in subdivision a of this section, the following
optional settlement:

Alternative Option. The actuarial equivalent of the member's
retirement allowance at the time of retirement, in the form of a smaller
retirement allowance payable to such member for life and some other
benefit or benefits paid either to the member or to such person or
persons as he shall nominate, provided such other benefit or benefits,
together with such smaller allowance, shall be certified by the actuary
of the appropriate retirement system to be of equivalent actuarial value
to his retirement allowance and shall be approved by the head of such
retirement system and provided further that nothing herein shall require
such retirement system to pay a benefit in violation of paragraph nine
of subsection a of section four hundred one of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986, as amended, 26 U.S.C. §401(a)(9).

b. No option hereunder shall be permitted whereby the member would
receive less than fifty percent of the actuarial equivalent of the
retirement allowance without optional modification during such member's
life expectancy. Provided, however, the preceding sentence shall not
apply if the surviving beneficiary is the member's spouse.

c. The mortality and interest rates used in determining options under
this article shall be those in effect for the public retirement system
on the date of retirement.

d. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, with respect
to the New York state employees' retirement system:

1. The comptroller, for reasonable cause, shall have power to extend
the time for the election of an option, for a period or periods which
shall expire not later than sixty days immediately after the effective
date of a member's retirement; and

2. If the member is incompetent, his spouse or the committee of his
property, or if he is a conservatee, his spouse or the conservator of
his property, may elect on the member's behalf a retirement option as
provided for in subdivision a of this section.

e. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a member of
the New York state teachers' retirement system at the time of retirement
may elect an option until the first payment on account of any benefit
becomes normally due.

* f. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, an option
selection previously filed by a member or retired member subject to the
provisions of this section may be changed no later than thirty days
following the date of payability of his or her retirement allowance. A
retired member who has been retired for disability may change an option
selection previously filed no later than (1) thirty days following the
date on which such member's application for disability retirement was
approved by the retirement board or (2) thirty days following the date
on which such retiree was retired for disability, whichever is later.

* NB There are 2 sb f's

* f. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, an option
selection previously filed by a member or retired member of the New York
city teachers' retirement system or the New York city board of education
retirement system subject to the provisions of this section may be
changed no later than thirty days following the date of payability of
his or her retirement allowance. A retired member who has been retired
for disability may change an option selection previously filed no later
than (1) thirty days following the date on which such member's
application for disability retirement was approved by the retirement
board or (2) thirty days following the date on which such retiree was
retired for disability, whichever date is later.

* NB There are 2 sb f's

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