Aug. 5, 2024
Making sure you and your loved ones understand what will happen to your benefit after your death is an important part of any financial plan. When it comes to your LAGERS benefit, it really depends on several factors including which payout option you elected at retirement.
Know Which Payout Option You Elected
When you retired, you made a one-time election for how your benefit should be paid out upon death. Generally, LAGERS has four options: Life, Option A, Option B, or Option C.
If you elected the Life Option, no monthly benefit is payable upon death. If you have member contributions remaining in the system, those will be refunded to your beneficiary of record.
If you elected Option A or Option B, a monthly benefit is payable to the spouse you were married to at retirement. If your spouse pre-deceases you, no future monthly benefit is payable to a beneficiary and you may apply to Pop-Up your benefit.
If you elected Option C, a minimum of 120 payments are guaranteed to be made to either you or your designated beneficiary. If you have received more than 120 payments (10 years), no further monthly benefit will be payable at death. If you have not yet received 120 payments, the remaining monthly payments (up to 120) will be made to your beneficiary after which monthly payments will cease.
