Upon the death of any safety member, after retirement for service or non-service-connected disability from a retirement system established in a county subject to the provisions of Section 31676.1 or 31695.1, 60 percent of the member’s retirement allowance if not modified in accordance with one of the optional settlements specified in Article 11 (commencing with Section 31760), shall be continued throughout life to the member’s surviving spouse. If there is no surviving spouse entitled to an allowance hereunder or if the surviving spouse dies before every child of the deceased safety member attains the age of 18 years, then the allowance which the surviving spouse would have received had the surviving spouse lived, shall be paid to the surviving spouse’s child or children under that age, collectively, to continue until every child dies or attains that age; provided, that no child shall receive any allowance after marrying or attaining the age of 18 years. No allowance, however, shall be paid under this section to a surviving spouse unless the surviving spouse was married to the safety member at least one year prior to the date of the member’s retirement.

Any qualified surviving spouse or children of a member of a pension system established pursuant to either Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 31900) or Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 32200), who shall have been retired on or before December 31, 1951, shall be paid a retirement allowance pursuant to the provisions of this section. In cases where the death of a member occurred prior to January 1, 1952, the payment of the retirement allowance to the qualified surviving spouse or children shall be made effective on January 1, 1952.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the benefits otherwise payable to the children of the member shall be paid to those children up to the 22nd birthdays of the children if the children remain unmarried and are regularly enrolled as full-time students in an accredited school as determined by the board.

The superseding rights pursuant to this section shall not affect benefits payable to a named beneficiary as provided under Section 31789, 31789.01, 31789.1, 31789.12, 31789.13, 31789.2, 31789.3, 31789.5, or 31790.

(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 275, Sec. 57. (AB 2101) Effective January 1, 2021.)