South Carolina Code of Laws
Chapter 9 - Retirement System For Members Of General Assembly
Section 9-9-100. Payments on death of member or beneficiary.

(1) Upon the death of a member of the system, a lump sum amount must be paid to the person the member nominated by written designation, filed with the board, otherwise to the member's estate. This lump sum amount must be equal to the amount of the member's accumulated contributions. A member who is not retired making the nomination provided under this item also may name contingent beneficiaries in the same manner that primary beneficiaries are named. A contingent beneficiary has no rights under this chapter unless all primary beneficiaries nominated by the member have predeceased the member and the member's death occurs before retirement. In this instance, a contingent beneficiary is considered the member's beneficiary for purposes of this item and item (3) of this section, if applicable. A member may not name a contingent beneficiary with respect to death benefits provided under subsections (4) and (5) of this section.
(2) Upon the death of a retired member a lump-sum amount must be paid to the person he has last nominated by written designation filed with the board, otherwise to his estate. The lump-sum must be equal to the excess, if any, of his total accumulated contributions at the time his allowance commenced over the sum of the retirement allowance payments made to him, and to his designated beneficiary under Options 1, 2, and 3 of Section 9-9-70, during their lifetimes.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in this section to the contrary, if a member dies after he has attained age sixty or has completed fifteen years of creditable service and death occurs in service, the person nominated by him to receive the lump sum amount in subsection (1) above may elect to receive, in lieu of that lump sum payment, an allowance for life in the same amount as if the deceased member of the system had retired at the time of his death and had named the person as contingent beneficiary under Option 1 of Section 9-9-70. A person otherwise eligible under this subsection to elect to receive an allowance who had attained age sixty-five or after the accumulation of thirty years of creditable service or after attainment of age sixty with twenty or more years of creditable service but who has received a refund of the member's accumulated contribution under this section may, upon repayment of the refund to the system in a single sum, make the election provided in this section. The monthly payments under Option 1 to the person must date from the time of the repayment of the accumulated contributions to the system.
(4) Upon receipt of proof, satisfactory to the board, of the death, after June 30, 1969, of a member of the system then in service as a member of the General Assembly who had completed at least one full year of membership in the system or of the death of an in-service member as a result of an injury arising out of and in the course of the performance of his duties regardless of length of membership, there must be paid to the person he nominated for the refund of his accumulated contributions, unless he has nominated a different beneficiary by written designation filed with the board, pursuant to Section 9-9-90, if the person is living at the time of the member's death, otherwise to the member's estate, a death benefit equal to the annual earnable compensation of the member at the time his death occurs. The death benefit is payable apart and separate from the payment of the lump sum amount, or the allowance in lieu of it, pursuant to subsections (1) and (3). For purposes of this subsection, a member is considered to be in service at the date of his death if his last day of earned service credit as a member of the General Assembly occurred not more than ninety days before the date of his death and he has not retired or withdrawn contributions.
(5) Upon the death of a retired member on or after July 1, 1985, there must be paid to the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries, if living at the time of the retired member's death, otherwise to the retired member's estate, a death benefit of one thousand dollars if the retired member had ten years of creditable service but less than twenty years, two thousand dollars if the retired member had twenty years of creditable service but less than thirty, and three thousand dollars if the retired member had at least thirty years of creditable service at the time of retirement.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 61-280; 1966 (54) 2081; 1970 (56) 1936; 1972 (57) 2207; 1973 (58) 169; 1974 (58) 2176; 1977 Act No. 26 Section 3; 1978 Act No. 644 Part II Section 33; 1981 Act No. 133, Section 2; 1983 Act No. 26, Section 2; 1984 Act No. 384, Section 4; 1984 Act No. 386, Section 2; 1985 Act No. 201, Part II, Sections 48D, 48E and 51C; 1990 Act No. 412, Section 10, eff January 1, 1991; 1991 Act No. 171, Part II, Section 44B, eff June 12, 1991; 1995 Act No. 139, Section 4, eff June 28, 1995; 2010 Act No. 176, Section 4, eff May 19, 2010; 2018 Act No. 149 (H.4869), Section 3, eff July 1, 2018; 2021 Act No. 62 (S.658), Section 4, eff May 17, 2021.
Effect of Amendment
2018 Act No. 149, Section 3, in (2), substituted "lump-sum" for "lump sum" in two places, and deleted ", duly acknowledged and" following "written designation".
2021 Act No. 62, Section 4, in (1), in the third sentence, substituted "A member who is not retired" for "An active contributing member" and "primary beneficiaries" for "beneficiaries", in the fourth sentence, substituted "primary beneficiaries" for "beneficiaries" and "before retirement" for "while in service", and added the sixth sentence.

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