Subdivision 1.Optional annuity forms.

The retirement board shall establish optional annuities at retirement which shall take the form of an annuity payable for a period certain and for life thereafter or the form of a joint and survivor annuity. The board shall also establish an optional annuity which shall take the form of a guaranteed refund annuity paying the annuitant a fixed amount for life with the guarantee that in the event of death the balance of the accumulated deductions and interest accrued to the date of retirement will be paid to the designated beneficiary. Except as provided in subdivision 1a, any optional annuity forms shall be actuarially equivalent to the normal forms provided in section 354.44. In establishing these optional annuity forms, the board shall obtain the written recommendation of the actuary retained under section 356.214. The recommendations shall be a part of the permanent records of the board.

Subd. 1a.Bounce-back annuity.

(a) If a former member or disabilitant selects a joint and survivor annuity option under subdivision 1, the former member or disabilitant must receive a normal single life annuity if the designated optional annuity beneficiary dies before the former member or disabilitant. Under this option, no reduction may be made in the person‘s annuity to provide for restoration of the normal single life annuity in the event of the death of the designated optional annuity beneficiary.

(b) The restoration of the normal single life annuity under this subdivision will take effect on the first of the month following the date of death of the designated optional annuity beneficiary, or on the first of the month following one year before the date on which a certified copy of the death record of the designated optional annuity beneficiary is received in the office of the Teachers Retirement Association, whichever date is later.

(c) Except as stated in paragraph (b), this subdivision may not be interpreted as authorizing retroactive benefit payments.

Subd. 2.Refund upon death of retired member.

Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes 354.45

  • Accumulated deductions: means the total of the sums deducted from the salary of a member and the total amount of assessments paid by a member in lieu of such deductions, credited to the member's individual fund, less amounts paid to the member or any person in the member's behalf in the form of refundments, annuity payments or benefit payments and less any other amounts deducted pursuant to law. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Annuity: means a retirement annuity, optional survivors annuity, or spouses annuity. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • Association: means the combined membership of all teachers who qualify and participate in the retirement program provided for in this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Benefit: means an allowance paid or payable by the association to a surviving dependent spouse or a dependent child which is a fixed amount and also includes an allowance paid or payable by the association to a member or former member who is permanently and totally disabled. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • board: means the board of trustees of the Teachers Retirement Association. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • Designated beneficiary: means the person, trust, or organization designated by a retiree or member to receive the benefits to which a beneficiary is entitled under this chapter. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • Former spouse: means a person who is no longer a spouse of a member due to dissolution of the marriage, legal separation, or annulment. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and "year" is equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
  • Person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44
  • Retirement: means the withdrawal of a member from active teaching service who is paid a retirement annuity thereafter and commences with the date designated by the retirement board when the retirement annuity first accrues to the former member after withdrawal from active teaching service and application for an annuity under section 354. See Minnesota Statutes 354.05

Upon the death of the member after retirement where no designated beneficiary shall survive the member, any remaining unpaid guaranteed annuity payments shall be commuted at the applicable investment return specified in section 356.215, subdivision 8, and paid in one sum to the estate of the member. Upon the death of the last designated beneficiary after the death of the member, the value of any unpaid guaranteed annuity payments shall be commuted at the applicable investment return specified in section 356.215, subdivision 8, and paid in one sum to the estate of the designated beneficiary.

Subd. 3.Payment upon death of former spouse.

Upon the death of the former spouse to whom payments are to be made before the end of the specified payment period, payments shall be made according to the terms of a beneficiary form completed by the former spouse or, if no beneficiary form, to the estate of the former spouse or as otherwise ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction.