Title 24, Retirement and Pensions

The provisions of this act shall not be retroactive but shall extend benefits from the time of its passage. It shall also apply to judges now living who retired prior to the passage of this act and to the survivors of those judges.

(a) The administration and control of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System shall be vested in a board known as the “Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System”. (b) (1) The members of the board shall consist of five (5) persons appointed by the Arkansas Judic…

(a) (1) The Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Employees’ Retirement System and the administrative staff of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall be the executive director and administrative staff of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System.(2) All administ…

(a) In addition to the Judges Retirement Fund in the State Treasury, a bank trust fund or funds may be established and maintained in a federally insured depository institution designated by the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System. (b) The board shall be t…

An actuarial valuation shall be made annually to determine how well the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System is meeting the financial objectives applicable to all state-supported retirement systems.

(a) All chancery judges, circuit judges, judges of the Court of Appeals and justices of the Supreme Court, whether elected or appointed to office, shall participate in the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System. (b) Any active member who did not become a member at the time of his or…

(a) (1) The contribution of each member of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System shall be six percent (6%) of each member's annual salary.(2) A judge or justice who forfeits his or her rights to retirement benefits under § 24-8-215(c) is not required to continue to pay contribu…

(a) The state, as employer, shall make contributions to the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System of twelve percent (12%) of the active member payroll. (b) The Chief Fiscal Officer of the State is authorized and directed to make annual transfers on each July 1 to the Judges Retirem…

(a) When a judge is certified as eligible for retirement, no further contribution shall be required of the judge. (b) Upon the written notice of election by the member of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System, a judge with at least twenty (20) years of judicial service may cont…

(1) Any person who shall have served as a municipal judge in any municipal court in this state and who holds credited service therefor in any retirement system or retirement fund is authorized to transfer his or her credited services in the retirement system or fund to the Arkans…

(1) Any person who shall have served not less than fourteen (14) years as an elected prosecuting attorney in this state and who holds credited service therefor in the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, as established by § 24-4-103, upon being elected as a circuit judge…

(1) Any person who shall have served not less than two (2) years as an elected prosecuting attorney in this state and who holds credited service therefor in the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, as established by § 24-4-103, anytime after being elected as a circuit ju…

(a) Any active member with a minimum of ten (10) years of credited service may voluntarily retire upon reaching sixty-five (65) years of age or thereafter upon filing a written application with the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System. (b) Any other member…

(a) Any judge of a circuit or chancery court who has fourteen (14) years or more of credited service in the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System, established by Acts 1953, No. 365, may elect to retire and receive retirement benefits under the provisions of Acts 1953, No. 365, at a…

(a) Any member of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System who has served a minimum of three (3) consecutive years shall receive retirement benefits if any incapacitating disability as determined by the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System shall occur durin…

(a) The retirement benefits to be paid an eligible and qualified member or retiree under the provisions of this section shall be sixty percent (60%) of the annual salary payable to the last judicial office held and shall be payable for the recipient's life. (b) (1) Survivors' ben…

(a) The surviving unremarried spouse, sixty-five (65) years of age or older, of any person who served as a justice of the Supreme Court, as a judge of the Court of Appeals, or as a judge of any circuit or chancery court of the State of Arkansas for a period of eight (8) years or …

(a) Acts 1953, No. 365, as amended by this act, is to be in all of its sections complementary, except that no person may take benefits under two (2) or more sections of this act at the same time. (b) Retirement and survivors' benefits shall be measured by the salary payable for t…

(a) Any member of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System who has credit in the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System for service as a juvenile judge is authorized to transfer that credit to the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System by:(1) Notifying in writing the administra…

(a) Each July 1 the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System shall redetermine the amount of each monthly benefit which has been payable by the system for at least twelve (12) full calendar months. The redetermined amount shall be payable for the following twelve (12) calendar months.…

(a) Notwithstanding § 24-8-215 regarding mandatory retirement under the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System for any judge or justice upon reaching seventy (70) years of age or any other law to the contrary, any judge or justice covered under the system who served continuously for…

(a) No benefit enhancement provided for by § 24-8-214 shall be implemented if it would cause the publicly supported retirement system's unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities to exceed a thirty-year amortization. (b) No benefit enhancement provided for by § 24-8-214 shall be impl…

(1) The following minimum benefits shall apply to any plan based only on actual service under the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System:(1) The annual minimum disability benefit shall be equal to twenty-five and six-tenths percent (25.6%) of the annual salary of the judge or justic…

Unless the context requires otherwise, any listing of judges or justices in this subchapter and § 24-8-701 et seq. shall include all judges and justices in the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System.

(a) The Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System shall present to the Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs information concerning the statutory authority and actuarial appropriateness of proposed board actions to establish or revis…

The effective date of monthly benefits payable to a survivor of a deceased member or a survivor of a deceased retiree under §§ 24-8-218 and 24-8-219 is the first day of the calendar month next following the month in which the member or retiree died, regardless of when the survivo…

A person who knowingly makes a material false statement or who materially falsifies or permits to be materially falsified any record in an attempt to defraud the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System as the result of such an act upon conviction is guilty of a Class D felony in acco…

This subchapter shall not repeal existing laws of this state relating to the retirement of municipal court judges and municipal court clerks but shall be cumulative thereto, specifically to §§ 24-8-401 and 24-8-403 — 24-8-408, and acts amendatory thereof. It shall in no manner af…

(a) There is created in cities of the first class or cities of the second class a board of trustees which shall consist of the mayor, city clerk, city treasurer, city health officer, and municipal judges of the city. (b) The board shall receive and administer the funds collected …

(a) All payments of retirement benefits under this subchapter shall be payable semimonthly. (b) (1) In case the fund established by this subchapter should ever become deficient to pay retirement benefits due any persons under this subchapter, the city treasurer shall verify the d…

(a) Any judge, licensed to practice law, of a municipal court established in any county and any clerk of such a municipal court appointed by the judges thereof shall be entitled to the benefits prescribed in this subchapter for such judges and clerks. (b) Any judge of a municipal…

(a) A judge of a municipal court upon reaching sixty-eight (68) years of age and having served for a minimum of seven (7) years immediately prior to retirement may retire. (b) (1) If incapacitating illness or disability should occur during any term for which a judge has been elec…

(a) (1) Upon the approval of a majority of the city council or the board of directors of a city of the first class or a city of the second class, and of the county quorum court if county funds are used to partially pay the salary of the judge of the municipal court, any judge of …

(a) (1) Any judge of a municipal court to which this subchapter applies who shall have served at least twenty (20) years in office as municipal judge, irrespective of age, shall be eligible to receive retirement benefits provided by this subchapter.(2) If incapacitating illness o…

Upon the approval of the governing body of the municipality and of the county quorum court if county funds are used to partially pay the salary of the judge of the municipal court, any judge of a municipal court who has served or who shall serve at least twelve (12) years in offi…

(a) Any judge of a municipal court who is not licensed to practice law, who has served at least twenty (20) years as municipal judge or police judge, and who resigns, retires, or is succeeded in office shall receive retirement benefits upon attaining sixty (60) years of age. (b) …

(a) (1) Any clerk of a municipal court to which this subchapter applies, appointed by the judges of the court, shall be eligible to receive retirement benefits provided by this subchapter who:(A) Attains sixty (60) years of age and has served in office as clerk for at least ten (…

(a) (1) A judge of a municipal court and a clerk of a municipal court who, on March 23, 1973, were covered by the provisions of the Municipal Section of the Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System shall, prior to January 1, 1982, make an election in writing as to whether to …

(a) Upon a three-fourths (¾) vote of the board of trustees established under § 24-8-302, the fund established under § 24-8-301 et seq. may pay retirement benefits due the following persons:(1) Former municipal court clerks who retired under retirement laws effective prior to Marc…

(a) Any judge of a municipal court who was elected countywide to a partial term left vacant by the death of the former judge and who shall have completed the same and subsequently shall have been elected to and completed four (4) consecutive four-year terms and shall at the time …

(a) The quorum court of any county which is divided into two (2) districts and has two (2) county seats and in which the municipal court is funded primarily by the county shall have the option to provide retirement benefits for the municipal court judge and the municipal court cl…

(a) (1) After the repeal of § 24-8-303 providing for the levy of court costs to fund the municipal court judge and clerk retirement fund, a municipality having provided for retirement benefits for municipal court judges and court clerks in accordance with this subchapter shall co…

(a) In addition to the funds for the municipal court judges and clerk retirement fund provided for by § 16-10-308(a)-(d), if the city council or quorum court determines by actuarial valuation that funding is inadequate to meet the financial objective of paying for current and any…

(1) Any person participating in a retirement plan authorized under this subchapter on or after July 1, 1999, shall be entitled to a retirement benefit if that person has ten (10) or more years of actual service in a plan covered by this subchapter and is at least sixty (60) years…

(a) Currently, the municipal judges and court clerks in Arkansas are covered under numerous and separate retirement plans run independently by each municipal government. Under Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 80, all municipal courts in existence shall be known as district courts…

(a) The municipal judge and clerk retirement funds defined in this subchapter are closed effective December 31, 2004. (b) There will be no new members in these funds after December 31, 2004.