Rhode Island § 45-21-30 - Retirement of Municipal Employees

§ 45-21-30. Optional benefits on service retirement.

(a) A beneficiary, or, if the beneficiary is an incompetent, then his or her spouse or domestic partner, or if he or she has no spouse or domestic partner, a guardian of the beneficiary’s estate, may elect to receive a benefit in a retirement allowance, payable throughout life, or the beneficiary may then elect to receive the actuarial equivalent, at that time, of the beneficiary’s retirement allowance in a lesser retirement allowance as determined by actuarial calculation, which shall be payable throughout life with the provision that:

(1) Option 1. A reduced retirement allowance payable during the beneficiary’s life, with the provisions that after the beneficiary’s death, it shall continue during the life of and be paid to the person that the beneficiary has nominated by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the retirement board at the time of retirement; or

(2) Option 2. A reduced retirement allowance payable during the beneficiary’s life, with the provision that after the beneficiary’s death an allowance equal to one-half (½) of the beneficiary’s reduced allowance shall continue during the life of and be paid to the person that the beneficiary has nominated by written designation duly acknowledged and filed with the board at the time of retirement.

(b) This section does not apply to any person who elects the social security supplemental option related in § 45-21-17.2.

(c) This section is exempt from the provisions of §§ 45-13-6 — 45-13-10.

(d) If prior to July 1, 2012, a member elected an optional form of benefit other than a life annuity in accordance with paragraph (a)(1) or (2) above, the member may elect to change his or her form of benefit to a life annuity by filing an election with the retirement board on or before June 30, 2013, provided that the member’s beneficiary is still alive at the time the election is filed.