Upon the death of a patrol, state peace officer/firefighter, or state safety member whose retirement for service or disability is effective on or after April 1, 1973, a monthly allowance derived from employer contributions equal to a percentage of the amount of his or her retirement allowance as it was at his or her death based on service credited to him or her as a member subject to this section, but excluding any portion of the retirement allowance derived from additional contributions of the member, shall be paid to the surviving spouse throughout life. The percentage shall be 25 percent for an allowance based on service for which the allowance is reduced because the service was also covered under the federal system and 50 percent for an allowance based on any other service. If there is no surviving spouse, or upon the death of the surviving spouse, the allowance shall be paid collectively to every unmarried child of the deceased member who has not attained age 18, or who is disabled by a condition that disabled that child prior to attaining age 18 and that has continued without interruption after age 18, until the disability ceases. If, at the time of the retired member’s death, there is no eligible surviving spouse or children, the allowance shall be paid to a parent, or collectively to parents, of the deceased member dependent upon him or her for support. If, on the effective date of his or her retirement, the member has no surviving spouse, eligible children, or dependent parents and elected an optional settlement, no allowance under this section shall be paid.

“Surviving spouse,” for purposes of service retirements subject to this section, means a husband or wife who was married to the member for a continuous period beginning at least one year prior to his or her retirement and ending on the date of his or her death and, for purposes of disability retirements subject to this section, means a husband or wife who was married to the member on the date of his or her retirement and continuously to the date of his or her death.

(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 800, Sec. 10. Effective January 1, 2000.)