Sec. 6.09. DEATH BENEFIT ANNUITIES TO DEPENDENT PARENTS. (a) If a contributing member in good standing of the fire or police department or a retiree dies before or after retirement and leaves no surviving spouse or child but leaves surviving a father and mother wholly dependent on that person for support, the dependent father and mother are entitled to receive one-third of the average total salary of the deceased member based on the same number of years of the member's pay as is currently provided for computations of retirement annuities under Section 5.01 of this Act, the annuity to be equally divided between the father and mother as long as they are wholly dependent. If there is only one dependent, either father or mother, the board shall grant the surviving dependent an annuity not to exceed one-fourth that average total salary as computed under this subsection.

(b) An application for benefits under Subsection (a) of this section must be accompanied by a copy of the deceased member's or retiree's tax return filed for the last year ending before the member's or retiree's death or an explanation satisfactory to the board of why the tax return cannot be provided. The board may, on its own initiative, make a thorough investigation, determine the facts as to the dependency with respect to an application for benefits made under Subsection (a) of this section, and at any time, on the request of any beneficiary or any contributor to the fund, reopen any award made to any member or dependent of any member who is receiving annuity payments under this section and discontinue those payments as to all or any of them. The findings of the board under this section and all annuities granted under this section are final on all parties unless set aside or revoked by a court of competent jurisdiction.