(A) If a member ceases to be a teacher or employee except by death or retirement, the member must be paid within six months after the member’s demand for payment, but not less than ninety days after ceasing to be a teacher or employee, the sum of the member’s contributions and the accumulated regular interest on the contributions. If the member has five or more years of earned service or eight or more years of such service for a Class Three member, and before the time the member’s membership would otherwise terminate, elects to leave these contributions in the system, the member, unless these contributions are paid to him as provided by this section before the attainment of age sixty, remains a member of the system and is entitled to receive a deferred retirement allowance beginning at age sixty computed as a service retirement allowance in accordance with § 9-1-1550(A) or (B) for Class One and Class Two members and § 9-1-1550(C) for Class Three members. The employee annuity must be the actuarial equivalent at age sixty of the member’s contributions with the interest credits on the contributions, if any, as allowed by the board. If a member dies before retirement, the amount of the member’s accumulated contributions must be paid to the member’s estate or to the person the member nominated by written designation filed with the board.

(B) Upon the death of a member who did not select a survivor option or who selected a survivor option and the member’s designated beneficiary predeceased the member, a lump sum amount must be paid to the member’s designated beneficiary or the member’s estate if total member contributions and accrued interest at the member’s retirement exceed the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member. Upon the death of a designated beneficiary selected under a survivor option, a lump sum amount must be paid to the beneficiary’s estate if total member contributions and accrued interest at the member’s retirement exceed the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member and the member’s beneficiary. The lump sum payment must be the total member contributions and accrued interest at retirement less the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member or in the case of a survivor option, the total member contributions and accrued interest at retirement less the sum of the retirement allowances paid to the member and the member’s designated beneficiary. This paragraph does not govern lump sum distributions payable on account of members retiring under former Option 1 of § 9-1-1620 or on account of members retiring before July 1, 1990, under former Option 4 of § 9-1-1620.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 9-1-1650

  • Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value when computed upon the basis of mortality tables adopted by the board and regular interest. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Beneficiary: means a person in receipt of a pension, an annuity, a retirement allowance or other benefit provided under the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Board: means the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority which shall act under the provisions of this chapter through its Division of Retirement Systems. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Class Three member: means an employee member of the system with an effective date of membership after June 30, 2012. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Contingent beneficiary: Receiver of property or benefits if the first named beneficiary fails to receive any or all of the property or benefits in question before his (her) death.
  • Earned service: means :

    (a) paid employment as a teacher or employee of an employer participating in the system where the teacher or employee makes regular retirement contributions to the system; or

    (b) service rendered while participating in the State Optional Retirement Program, the Optional Retirement Program for Teachers and School Administrators, or the Optional Retirement Program for Publicly Supported Four Year and Postgraduate Institutions of Higher Education that has been purchased pursuant to § 9-1-1140(F); or

    (c) service earned as a participant in the system, the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System, the Retirement System for Members of the General Assembly, or the Retirement System for Judges and Solicitors that is transferred to or purchased in the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Employee: means :

    (a) to the extent compensated by this State, an employee, agent, or officer of the State or any of its departments, bureaus, and institutions, other than the public schools, whether the employee is elected, appointed, or employed;

    (b) the president, dean, professor, or teacher or any other person employed in any college, university, or educational institution of higher learning supported by and under the control of the State;

    (c) an employee, agent, or officer of a county, municipality, or school district, or an agency or department of any of these, which has been admitted to the system under the provisions of § 9-1-470, to the extent the employee, agent, or officer is compensated for services from public funds;

    (d) an employee of the extension service and any other employee a part of whose salary or wage is paid by the federal government if the federal funds from which the salary or wage is paid before disbursement become state funds;

    (e) an employee of a service organization, the membership of which is composed solely of persons eligible to be teachers or employees as defined by this section, if the compensation received by the employees of the service organization is provided from monies paid by the members as dues or otherwise, or from funds derived from public sources and if the employee contributions prescribed by this title are paid from the funds of the service organization;

    (f) an employee of an alcohol and drug abuse planning agency authorized to receive funds pursuant to § 61-12-20;

    (g) an employee of a local council on aging or other governmental agency providing aging services funded by the Department on Aging. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Member: means a teacher or employee included in the membership of the system as provided in Article 5 of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Regular interest: means interest compounded annually at a rate determined by the board in accordance with § 9-1-280. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Retirement: means the withdrawal from active service with a retirement allowance granted under the system. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Retirement allowance: means the sum of the employer annuity and the employee annuity or any optional benefit payable in lieu of the annuity. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • system: means the South Carolina Retirement System established under § 9-1-20. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10
  • Teacher: means a classroom teacher employed in the public schools supported by this State as determined by the board. See South Carolina Code 9-1-10

(C) A member who is not retired making the nomination provided under this section also may name contingent beneficiaries in the same manner that primary beneficiaries are named. A contingent beneficiary has no rights under this chapter unless all primary beneficiaries nominated by the member have predeceased the member and the member’s death occurs before retirement. In this instance, a contingent beneficiary is considered the member’s beneficiary for purposes of this section and § 9-1-1660, if applicable. A member may not name a contingent beneficiary with respect to death benefits provided under § 9-1-1770.

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