2009 Nebraska Code
Chapter 23 COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND OFFICERS
23-2321 Retirement system; employee; death before retirement; death benefit.

23-2321. Retirement system; employee; death before retirement; death benefit.

In the event of the death before his or her retirement date of any employee who is a member of the system, the death benefit shall be equal to (1) for participants in the defined contribution benefit, the total of the employee account and the employer account and (2) for participants in the cash balance benefit, the benefit provided in section 23-2308.01. The death benefit shall be paid to the member's beneficiary, to an alternate payee pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order as provided in section 42-1107, or to the member's estate if there are no designated beneficiaries. If the beneficiary is not the member's surviving spouse, the death benefit shall be paid as a lump-sum payment or payments, except that the entire account must be distributed by the fifth anniversary of the member's death. If the sole primary beneficiary is the member's surviving spouse, the surviving spouse may elect to receive an annuity calculated as if the member retired and selected a one-hundred-percent joint and survivor annuity effective on the annuity purchase date. If the surviving spouse does not elect the annuity option within one hundred eighty days after the death of the member, the surviving spouse shall receive a lump-sum payment or payments, except that the entire account must be distributed by the fifth anniversary of the member's death.

Source

Laws 1965, c. 94, § 21, p. 409;
Laws 1975, LB 47, § 5;
Laws 1985, LB 347, § 10;
Laws 1994, LB 1306, § 2;
Laws 1996, LB 1273, § 17;
Laws 2002, LB 687, § 16;
Laws 2003, LB 451, § 12;
Laws 2004, LB 1097, § 6;
Laws 2009, LB188, § 6.