§ 8-8.2-11. Allowance to surviving spouses or domestic partners of deceased judges. (a) Whenever any judge of the administrative adjudication court or any judge of the administrative adjudication court who is reassigned by this chapter to the traffic tribunal dies after retirement or during active service while eligible for retirement, the judge's surviving spouse or domestic partner shall receive annually thereafter during his or her lifetime and so long as he or she remains unmarried or not in a domestic partnership, an amount equal to one third (1/3) of the annual payment that the administrative judge was receiving by way of salary or retirement pay at the time of his or her death. Whenever a judge of the administrative adjudication court or any judge of the administrative adjudication court who is reassigned by this act to the traffic tribunal shall die without having become eligible to retire under § 8-8.2-6 and has served ten (10) years or more in office, his or her surviving spouse or domestic partner shall receive annually thereafter during the spouse's or domestic partner's lifetime and so long as he or she remains unmarried or not in a domestic partnership, one fourth (1/4) of the annual salary that the judge was receiving at the time of his or her death.

(b) Any judge who retires under the provisions of § 8-8.2-6 may at his or her option elect to receive three fourths (3/4) of his or her retirement pay, and where the option is exercised by giving the general treasurer notice in writing thereof within two (2) years after the date of his or her retirement, his or her surviving spouse or domestic partner shall receive annually one half (1/2) of his or her retirement pay during the spouse's or domestic partner's lifetime so long as he or she remains unmarried or not in a domestic partnership.

History of Section. (P.L. 1999, ch. 218, art. 4, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 510, § 3; P.L. 2012, ch. 415, § 13.)