West Virginia Code
Article 7A. State Teachers Retirement System
§18-7A-23. Withdrawal and Death Benefits

(a) Benefits upon withdrawal from service prior to retirement under the provisions of this article shall be as follows:
(1) A contributor who withdraws from service for any cause other than death, disability or retirement shall, upon application, be paid his or her accumulated contributions up to the end of the fiscal year preceding the year in which application is made, after offset of any outstanding loan balance, plus accrued loan interest, pursuant to section thirty-four of this article, but in no event shall interest be paid beyond the end of five years following the year in which the last contribution was made: Provided, That the contributor, at the time of application, is then no longer under contract, verbal or otherwise, to serve as a teacher; or
(2) Except as provided in section twenty-five-b of this article, if the inactive member has completed twenty years of total service, he or she may elect to receive at age sixty an annuity which shall be computed as provided in this article: Provided, That if the inactive member has completed at least five, but fewer than twenty, years of total service in this state, he or she may elect to receive at age sixty-two an annuity which shall be computed as provided in this article. The inactive member must notify the retirement board in writing concerning the election. If the inactive member has completed fewer than five years of service in this state, he or she shall be subject to the provisions as outlined in subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(b) Benefits upon the death of a contributor prior to retirement under the provisions of this article shall be paid as follows:
(1) If the contributor was at least fifty years old and if his or her total service as a teacher or nonteaching member was at least twenty-five years at the time of his or her death, then the surviving spouse of the deceased, provided the spouse is designated as the sole primary refund beneficiary, is eligible for an annuity computed as though the deceased were actually a retirant at the time of death and had selected a survivorship option which pays the spouse the same monthly amount which would have been received by the deceased; or
(2) If the facts do not permit payment under subdivision (1) of this subsection, then the following sum shall be paid to the refund beneficiary of the contributor: (A) The contributor's accumulated contributions up to the plan year of his or her death plus an amount equal to his or her member contributions: Provided, That the latter sum shall emanate from the Employer's Accumulation Fund; and (B) the refund beneficiary of any individual who became a member of the retirement system as a result of the voluntary transfer contemplated in article seven-d of this chapter shall also be paid the member contributions plus the vested portion of employer contributions made on his or her behalf to the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System, plus any earnings thereon, as of June 30, 2008, as stated by the retirement board.

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