N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 61: Accidental death benefit

§ 61. Accidental death benefit. a. An accidental death benefit and the

reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be payable upon the death of a

member if, upon application filed within five years after the death of

such member, the comptroller shall determine, on the basis of the

evidence, that such member:

1. Died before the effective date of his retirement, as the natural

and proximate result of an accident sustained in the performance of duty

in the service upon which his membership was based, and

2. Did not cause such accident by his own willful negligence, and

3. At the time of such accident was actually a member of the

retirement system.

Where the claimant is an infant or is mentally or physically

incapacitated, and because of the aforesaid disability application for

accidental death benefit is not filed within the time specified by this

subdivision, or where a person entitled to make a claim dies before the

expiration of the time so specified, the comptroller in his discretion

may grant leave to file such application within a reasonable time after

the expiration of the time specified in this subdivision.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred forty-two, two

hundred forty-three or two hundred forty-four of the military law or the

provisions of any other law to the contrary and solely for the purpose

of determining eligibility for an accidental death benefit, a member

shall be considered to have died as the natural and proximate result of

an accident sustained in the performance of duty provided such member

was on the payroll in the service upon which membership is based at the

time he or she was ordered to active duty pursuant to Title 10 of the

United States Code, with the armed forces of the United States or to

service in the uniformed services pursuant to Chapter 43 of Title 38 of

the United States Code and died while on such active duty or in service

in the uniformed services on or after June fourteenth, two thousand

five.

b. The accidental death benefit and the

reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be payable from the pension

reserve fund. Such accidential death benefit shall consist of a pension

of one-half of the member's final average salary. The payment of such

pension shall be subject to the provisions of section sixty-four of this

article. The reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be paid in a lump

sum to those entitled thereto in accordance with subdivision d of this

section. The member's accumulated contributions shall be refunded in

accordance with subdivision d of section fifty-one of this article.

c. The accidental death benefit payable pursuant to this section on

account of a member whose:

1. Service was on other than a full-time basis at the time of his

death, and

2. Death was the natural and proximate result of an accident sustained

while a member and while in the performance of duty, shall be equal to

the benefit that would be paid on account of such member were his

service on a full-time basis.

d. The pension on account of accidental death and the

reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay shall be paid to:

1. The member's widow or widower to continue during his or her

widowhood. If he or she shall leave no widow or widower, or if his or

her widow or widower shall die or remarry before all his or her children

shall have attained age eighteen or sooner die, then to

2. His or her child or children under age eighteen, divided in such

manner as the comptroller, in his discretion, shall determine. Such

pension shall continue as a joint and survivor pension until every such

child shall have attained age eighteen or sooner die. If no widow or

widower or child under age eighteen shall survive such member, at the

time of his or her death, then to

3. His or her dependent father or dependent mother, as he or she shall

have nominated by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with

the comptroller. Such pension shall continue for the life of the parent

so designated. If there be no such designation, then to

4. His or her dependent father or dependent mother, as the

comptroller, in his discretion, shall determine. Such pension shall

continue for the life of the parent so selected.