Upon the death, after the effective date of retirement, of a state miscellaneous member none of whose service rendered in state employment has been included in the federal system and whose retirement is effective on or after July 1, 1974, or of a school member or school safety member none of whose service rendered in school service or school safety service has been included in the federal system and whose retirement is effective on or after July 1, 1983, a monthly allowance derived from employer contributions equal to 50 percent of the amount of his or her retirement allowance as it was at his or her death and 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. 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 which disabled that child prior to attaining age 18 and which 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 retirement there is a person who will be eligible if the person survives, the member’s election of an optional settlement other than the optional settlement in Section 21455 or 21474 shall apply only to a portion of his or her allowance as provided in Section 21451 or 21471.1. 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 retirement 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 retirement subject to this section where the member retired on or after January 1, 1995, 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. 2016, Ch. 199, Sec. 34. (AB 2404) Effective January 1, 2017.)