(a) Upon the death of a member before his retirement date, the beneficiary named by the member shall receive a death benefit equal to the member’s retirement contributions, without interest.

(b) Upon the death of a member after his retirement date, provided such retirement date is prior to August 1, 1986, the beneficiary named by the member shall receive a death benefit equal to the excess of the member’s retirement contributions plus interest over the sum of: (1) The income payments made to the member from the State Employees Retirement Fund on or before June 30, 1971, and (2) thirty per cent of the income payments made to the member after June 30, 1971, but on or before June 30, 1973, from the State Employees Retirement Fund and (3) twenty-five per cent of the income payments made to the member after June 30, 1973, from the State Employees Retirement Fund. Upon the death of a member after his retirement date, provided such retirement date is on or after August 1, 1986, the beneficiary shall receive a death benefit equal to the member’s retirement contributions plus interest reduced by the federal tax exclusion ratio times the income payments made to the member from the State Employees Retirement Fund.

(c) A member may name a beneficiary to receive any death benefit which may become due on or after his death. If he names more than one person as beneficiary, all such persons living on the due date of a death benefit payment shall be considered cobeneficiaries and shall receive equal shares of the payment unless the member provides otherwise. Any named beneficiary may be changed by the member from time to time. No consent of any beneficiary is required for any change of beneficiary.

(d) A member may name or change his beneficiary by written request filed with the Retirement Commission. Such request shall be effective on the date it is signed by the member, whether or not the member is living when such request is received by the Retirement Commission, but without prejudice to the state because of any payments made by the state before receipt of such request by the Retirement Commission.

(e) A death benefit payment shall be made to the estate of a member if, on the date the death benefit payment is due, no beneficiary has been duly named by the member or no named beneficiary is alive; provided, if the death benefit is less than one thousand dollars, the Comptroller may, upon the advice of the Retirement Commission, pay such death benefit as provided in § 45a-273.

(f) Retroactive Social Security taxes deducted from contributions previously made by a member because of the retroactive effective date of the Social Security Agreement shall be excluded in determining the amount of any payment under this section.

(g) For the purposes of this section, if such death occurs on or after October 1, 1982, the value of the member’s retirement contribution shall include interest credited from January 1, 1982, or the first July first following the date of actual contribution, whichever is later, to the July first coincident with or preceding the date of death of the member or the date the employee left state service, whichever is earlier. Such interest shall be credited at the rate of five per cent per year. In addition, for the partial year during which the employee dies, interest shall be credited at the rate of five-twelfths of one per cent multiplied by the number of months completed during that year, such interest rate to be applied to the value of contributions including any prior interest credits as of the first day of that year.