Title 19, Title 19

A police officer serving in the United States military in time of war or national emergency must be given credit in the officer's police record for the military service in the same manner as though the officer were on active police duty.

(1) A member with 15 years or more of service as a police officer may, at any time prior to retirement, make a written election with the board to qualify all or any portion of the member's active service in the armed forces of the United States for the purpose of calculating reti…

When a police officer is transferred from the active list to the retired list of a city, the officer must receive monthly payments from the city's police retirement fund, as follows: (1) A police officer who is eligible under 19-19-401(1) or (2) and does not elect to serve any ad…

When a police officer is transferred from the active list to the retired list of a city, the officer must receive monthly payments from the city's police retirement fund, as follows: (1) A police officer who is eligible under 19-19-402 before completing 20 years of service must r…

(1) Upon the death of a police officer on the active list or retired list of a city, the officer's surviving spouse, if there is one, must, as long as the spouse remains the surviving spouse, be paid from the city's police retirement fund a sum equal to one-half the base salary, …

Except for execution or withholding for the payment of child support or for the payment of spousal support for a spouse or former spouse who is the custodial parent of the child, the benefits provided for in this part are not subject to execution, garnishment, attachment, or the …

A retiree who is a participant in an employee group insurance plan that permits participation in the group plan following retirement may elect to have the monthly premium for group insurance withheld by the department of administration and paid directly by the department to the i…

(1) The payment for each fiscal year to the police officers, spouses, or minor children described in subsections (2)(a) through (2)(c) may not be less than one-half of the salary paid in that fiscal year in the appropriate city or town to newly confirmed police officers. (2) On o…

(1) If a member dies before retirement: (a) except as provided in subsection (2), a lump-sum refund of the member's account balance must be paid to the member's eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries; (b) if the deceased member was vested and was an active member in the retirement…

(1) In the event of the death of a retired member: (a) a lump-sum death benefit of $500 is payable to the joint annuitant or in equal shares to the deceased retiree's eligible beneficiary or beneficiaries receiving benefits under either subsection (2), (3), or (4) and is in addit…

(1) Death benefits paid from the system are subject to the requirements of this section. (2) Death benefits must be distributed in accordance with section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations adopted under that section. (3) The amount of benefits payable to …

With respect to a member's death occurring on or after January 1, 2007, while a member is performing qualified military service covered under the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008, Public Law 110-245, and to the extent required by section 401(a)(37) of the Int…

(1) A decedent's alternate beneficiary is the decedent's estate if the estate is probated. (2) (a) If the decedent's estate is not informally or formally probated, the alternate beneficiaries are the surviving individuals determined in the following order of priority, the deceden…

(1) Upon first becoming an active member of the retirement system, the member shall designate one or more primary beneficiaries and may designate one or more contingent beneficiaries. (2) (a) At the time of retirement, the member's beneficiary designations under subsection (1) ar…

(1) To be accepted as an effective beneficiary designation, the beneficiary designation record must: (a) be made on a paper form or by an electronic process prescribed by the retirement system specifically for the designation of beneficiaries; (b) if submitted electronically, inc…

(1) Once accepted by the retirement system, a beneficiary designation may be changed only by the member submitting to the retirement system a new effective beneficiary designation record. No other action, process, or provision of law may invalidate, revoke, terminate, or otherwis…

(1) The retirement system may not make a payment directly to an individual who is less than 21 years of age. (2) The retirement system shall make a payment to which a minor child is entitled by making the payment to an entity or adult designated as a custodian for the minor child…

As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply: (1) "Accumulated contributions" or "account balance" means the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member or paid by a member and credited to the membe…

The designation and payment of beneficiaries under the retirement system is governed solely by the provisions of this chapter. No other provisions of law apply.

(1) The state teachers' retirement system created under the provisions of Chapter 87, Laws of 1937, is the state teachers' retirement system of the state of Montana, and the provisions of this chapter do not affect or impair the validity of any action taken by its governing board…

A person who accepts employment for which membership is required is considered to have consented to membership and to the withholding of contributions from the person's compensation.

Regular interest charges payable, the creation and maintenance of reserves in the pension accumulation account, and the maintenance of accumulated contributions in the annuity savings account, as provided for in this chapter, and the payment of all retirement allowances, refunds,…

A person who knowingly makes a false statement or who falsifies or permits to be falsified any record of the retirement system in an attempt to defraud the system is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable as provided by law.

(1) The board shall administer the plan in the manner required to satisfy the applicable qualification requirements for a qualified governmental plan, as specified in the Internal Revenue Code. If a provision in this chapter conflicts with a qualification requirement in section 4…

(1) A retired member who is a participant in an approved employer-sponsored group insurance plan may elect to have the monthly premium for the group insurance withheld from the member's retirement allowance by the retirement system. Premiums withheld must be paid directly to the …

It is the policy of the state that additional benefits may not be added to the teachers' retirement system unless the system amortizes in 30 years or less and the additional benefit is projected to be fully funded in perpetuity.

As used in this part, the following definitions apply: (1) "Amount owed" means the total amount of overpaid benefits or unpaid contributions plus accrued interest as provided in 19-20-1206 and costs and fees awarded as provided in 19-20-1214. (2) "Benefit recipient" means a benef…

The retirement system shall correct errors and, as far as practicable, shall: (1) in the case of underpaid benefits, adjust future benefit payments so the actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which the member or benefit recipient is correctly entitled will be paid; (2) in the c…

An amount owed for unpaid employer contributions must be paid to the retirement system by the employer and is not subject to reduction for any reason.

(1) An amount owed for unpaid employee contributions must be paid to the retirement system by the employer if, at the time the contributions were due, the employer was legally required to pick up and remit the contributions to the retirement system on behalf of the member pursuan…

(1) Subject to subsection (2), an amount owed to the retirement system for overpaid benefits must be recovered as follows: (a) from any retirement benefit or other amount payable by the retirement system to a benefit recipient; or (b) through repayment by a benefit recipient who …

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), overpaid benefits and unpaid contributions accrue interest at the retirement system's actuarially assumed annual rate of return, compounded monthly. Interest accrues beginning on the date that the first erroneous payment was made or that …

(1) (a) Before taking action to correct an error or recover overpaid benefits or unpaid contributions, the retirement system shall provide a written initial notice to any person or entity from whom the overpayment or unpaid contributions may be recovered. (b) The initial notice m…

(1) The retirement system may use any or all of the following methods to recover amounts owed from a member or benefit recipient: (a) accept a lump-sum payment; (b) accept installment payments; (c) accept a rollover payment from a member; (d) actuarially adjust monthly benefit pa…

(1) Nothing in this part is intended to prohibit retirement system staff from working informally with an employer, a member, or a benefit recipient to mutually resolve an error and recover amounts owed to the retirement system prior to the retirement system taking formal action a…

(1) Unless an overpayment or unpaid contributions resulted solely from an error of the retirement system, in any contested case or other civil proceeding for correction of an error or recovery of an overpayment or unpaid contributions, the retirement system is entitled to the cos…

(1) If overpaid benefits or unpaid contributions resulted solely from an error made by the retirement system, the retirement system may recover amounts owed for overpayments or unpaid contributions only for benefits or other amounts actually paid by the retirement system or for c…

(1) The retirement board shall administer and operate the retirement system within the limitations prescribed by this chapter, and it is the duty of the retirement board to: (a) establish rules necessary for the proper administration and operation of the retirement system; (b) ap…

The members of the retirement board shall serve without direct or indirect compensation except that each appointed member shall receive compensation as provided in 2-15-122 and travel expenses as provided in 2-18-501 through 2-18-503 for each day in attendance at the meetings of …

(1) It is the duty of the retirement board to: (a) elect a presiding officer from its membership; (b) employ an executive director and other technical or administrative employees who are necessary for the transaction of the business of the retirement system and establish their co…

It is the duty of the retirement board to determine the eligibility of a person to become a member of the retirement system in accordance with the provisions of 19-20-302.

It is the duty of the retirement board to grant retirement, disability, and other benefits under the provisions of this chapter. However, benefits will be granted only if the board decides, in its discretion as limited by law, that an applicant for benefits is entitled to those b…

(1) Each employer shall: (a) (i) each month, report the name, social security number, time worked, and gross earnings of each employed member; and (ii) pick up the contributions of each employed member at the rate prescribed pursuant to 19-20-602 and 19-20-608 and transmit the co…

(1) The board shall distribute the corpus and income of the system to the members and their beneficiaries in accordance with the system's law. The corpus and income may not, at any time before the satisfaction of all liabilities with respect to members and their beneficiaries, be…

The retirement board shall annually at a public meeting present to the board of investments established in 2-15-1808 a financial and actuarial report of the retirement system and brief the board of investments on any benefit changes being considered by the retirement board that m…

As soon as possible after the completion of each annual actuarial valuation for the teachers' retirement system, the board shall have its actuary present a detailed actuarial report in accordance with 5-11-210 to the legislative finance committee and to the state administration a…