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All of the benefit information below has been complied by COPS, a support group for police survivors.
Rev. 01/04
STATE OF NEVADA
DEATH BENEFITS
To obtain certified copies of registered personal documents, contact Vital Statistics, 505 E.
King Street, Carson City, NV 89710, phone (702) 885-4480.
STATE DEATH BENEFITS
Effective October 1, 1989, the reimbursable funeral benefit is $5,000.
STATE PENSION BENEFITS
Members of the Public Employees' Retirement System include a person who is employed
by a participating public employer and who is contributing to the system; or a person who
has previously been in the employ of a participating public employer and who has contributed
to the system but who subsequently terminates such employment without withdrawing his/her
contributions.
286.660 Death of certain member before retirement: Disposition of moneys to his/her
credit in public employees' retirement fund.
1. If a person who is a member of the system and has less than 2
years of accredited contributing service or has more than 2 years
of accredited service and payments are not due under NRS
286.673 to 286.677, inclusive, dies before retiring, the amount
credited at the time of his death to his account in the public
employees' retirement fund shall be paid directly and without
probate or administration to the beneficiaries which he
designates.
2. Should more than one beneficiary be named, the amount
standing to the credit of the member shall be distributed equally
among such persons unless otherwise specifically directed by the
member. Full payment by the board to persons designated as
beneficiaries shall discharge the board and system completely on
account of the death.
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3. The death of any named beneficiary, prior to the death of the
member, shall operate to distribute the share of the deceased
beneficiary in equal shares to the other named beneficiaries who
shall survive, but if the deceased beneficiary shall be survived by
minor children the share of the deceased beneficiary shall be
distributed in equal shares among such surviving minor children.
4. Should no beneficiaries survive, or should the member not
designate a beneficiary, the amount otherwise due shall be paid
directly to the estate of the deceased member.
286.665 Death of member: Transfer of contributions of retirement fund under certain
circumstances; procedure for claiming transferred money.
1. Any contributions remaining in a member's, retired employee's
or beneficiary's individual account shall be transferred to the
public employee's retirement fund or the police and firemen's
retirement fund upon the death of the member, retired employee
or beneficiary if there is no heir, devisee capable of receiving the
money.
286.670 Rights to benefits not subject to tax, process or assignment; exceptions.
1. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 31.467 and as limited by
subsection 2, the right of a person to a pension, an annuity, a
retirement allowance, the return of contributions, the pension,
annuity or retirement allowance itself, any optional benefit or
death benefit or any other right accrued or accruing to any
person under the provisions of this chapter, and the money in the
various funds created by this chapter is:
(a) Exempt from all state, county and municipal taxes.
(b) Not subject to execution, garnishment, attachment or any
other process.
(c) Not subject to the operation of any bankruptcy or
insolvency law.
(d) Not assignable, by power of attorney or otherwise.
2. The system may withhold money from a refund or benefit when
the person applying for or receiving the refund or benefit owes
money to the system.
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EDUCATION BENEFITS
Sec. 396.540
Tuition charges for students at the University of Nevada are free to all students whose
families are bona fide residents of the State of Nevada or to all students whose families reside
outside the state, provided such students have themselves been bona fide residents of Nevada
for at least six months prior to their matriculation at the university.
Sec. 396.543
The board of regents may enter into an agreement with another state for the granting of full or
partial waivers of the nonresident tuition to residents of the other state who are students at or
are eligible for admission to any branch of the system if the agreement provides that, under
substantially the same circumstances, the other state will grant reciprocal waivers to
residents of Nevada who are students at or are eligible for admission to universities or
colleges in the other state.
Sec. 396.545
To the extent of legislative appropriation, the board of regents shall pay all registration fees,
laboratory fees and expenses for required textbooks and course materials assessed
against or incurred by a dependent child of a police officer, fireman, or officer of the Nevada
Highway Patrol who was killed in the line of duty for classes taken towards satisfying the
requirements of an undergraduate degree at a school within the University and Community
College System of Nevada. No such payment may be made for any fee assessed after the
child reaches the age of 23 years.
When applying for admission, dependent children under the age of 23 should request
the waiver of fees as provided for in Sec. 396.545 and provide proof of the line-of-duty
death of the parent.
POLICE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
The Police Corps is administered by the Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement
Education (OPCLEE), within the Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice, in
partnership with participating States that have submitted an approved State Plan. Information
can be found at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/opclee.
The Police Corps awards scholarships and reimburses educational expenses to students who
agree to work in a State or local police force for at least four years. Students must pursue an
undergraduate or graduate degree in a course of study which, in the judgment of the State or
local police force to which the participant will be assigned, includes appropriate preparation
for police service. Police Corps funds cover education expenses (including tuition, fees,
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books, supplies, transportation, room and board, and miscellaneous expenses) up to $7,500
per academic year, with a limit on total payments to any student of $30,000.
Police Corps scholarship funds are also available to dependent children of law
enforcement officers killed in the line of duty if the death occurred in the state after the
date that state was approved to participate in the Police Corps program. In Nevada, the
death must have occurred since August 1996. These scholarships may be applied to any
course of study, without any service or repayment obligation.
Police Corps participants are selected on a competitive basis by each State under regulations
prescribed by OPCLEE.
For more information, contact: Craig Lowe or Tara Shaffer at Nevada’s Commission
on POST, phone 1-877-59CORPS, email taras@govmail.state.nv.us, or visit the website
at http://nevadapolicecorps.state.nv.us/.
HEALTH BENEFITS
In 1999 Nevada Revised Statute 287.021 and 287.0477 were passed which requires Nevada
Police and Fire Agencies to offer continued insurance coverage for spouses and children
after line-of-duty deaths. The agency is responsible for the entire cost of the premiums.
This law also applies to the continued participation in the Nevada State Retirement System.
Your Benefits Assistance Officer should be able to help you.
WORKERS' COMPENSATION
Workers' Compensation coverage is compulsory for employers in Nevada.
Many of the Nevada police officer's families are covered by union benefits, public retirement
benefits, and individual policies. The workers' compensation benefits would not be offset by
the above listed benefits. However, if there is a successful third party suit, the State
Industrial Insurance System, which handles the distribution of workers' compensation benefits
to survivors, would attempt to recover the claim costs. If the settlement is very large, future
benefits could be offset.
A surviving family is entitled to a maximum monthly benefit of $1750 per month. If there
are any other dependents living outside of the core family unit, children from a prior marriage,
or dependent parents or siblings, this benefit may be apportioned to consider them. The
officer must have declared their dependency and been providing regular support with the
exception of natural children. In almost all cases the widow/widower receives at least 2/3 of
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the maximum monthly benefit. That leaves 1/3 to be apportioned to other family members.
Dependents, other than natural or adopted children, are only eligible for benefits for 100
months.
Each year the benefit changes to 2/3 of 150% of the state average wage. If spouse remarries,
he/she would be eligible for a two-year lump sum based on the maximum monthly award.
Dependent children living in home of remarried spouse would receive 15% of officer's
earned wage up to 66 2/3% of the maximum monthly award of the surviving spouse.
If a dependent who is receiving a portion of the survivor benefits should marry, finish school,
or drop out of school, then these benefits would revert back to the widow/widower providing
they had not remarried. Also, once the 100 months benefit has passed on an applicable
dependent, the benefit is then reverted back to the widow/widower. Should a dependent die
while receiving benefits, there is a $5,000 reimbursable funeral benefit.
In the state of Nevada, the State Industrial Insurance System would be notified of the death of
an officer by the department that he or she worked for and at that time they would be
instructed on how to begin the process of applying for the applicable benefits. Many times an
investigator and a claim specialist will also assist the family in the application. There is a
maximum burial allowance of $5,000 and transportation expenses are allowed for the
deceased and an accompanying person to a mortuary within the continental limits of the
United States.
It is required that benefits for dependents outside the home and under the age of 18 have a
court appointed guardian for the child's estate. This will hopefully ensure that the benefit is
used for the future care and education of the dependent child. Once the widowed spouse
remarries and the children receive the direct benefit, guardianship is also required.
Contact the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Industrial Insurance
Regulation, Capitol Complex, 1380 S. Curry Street, Carson City, Nevada 89710; (702)
687-3475.
PERSONAL LIFE POLICY
In absence of limitation by marriage contract, separate real and personal estate of an intestate
decedent, or if there is a surviving spouse, the excess over the share of such spouse descends
and is distributed as follows, each class of which a member is living taking to the exclusion of
subsequent classes: (1) Child or children and descendants of deceased children, equally if all
of the same degree and otherwise according to the right of representation; (2) parents equally
or all to surviving parent; (3) brothers and sisters and children of deceased brothers and sisters
according to right of representation; (4) next of kin of equal degree except that those claiming
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through a more remote ancestor. (134.030-134.110). No person convicted of murder of
decedent is entitled to succeed to any portion of estate. (134.007).
If decedent left more than one child or one child and issue of one or more deceased children,
and a child dies unmarried and before attaining majority, the share of such child descends of
one or more deceased children, equally if all of the same degree and otherwise to the right of
representation. (134.080).
Surviving spouse takes the following share of the separate estate, real and personal, of the
deceased spouse: (1) One-third if decedent left more than one child, one child deceased
children; (2) one-half if decedent left one child, descendants of one child, parent or parents,
brother or sister, or child or children of deceased brother or sister; (3) all if decedent left none
of the aforementioned relatives. (134.040-134-050).
Posthumous children are considered as living at death of the parent.
PEER SUPPORT ORGANIZATION
Established in 1984, Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. (COPS), is a national, non-profit
organization that works with law enforcement agencies, police organizations, mental health
professional, and local peer-support organizations to provide assistance to surviving families
of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. COPS has become a "lifeline" to police
survivors nationwide. Contact: Nevada COPS, Lisa Flahive, President, PO Box 750223,
Las Vegas, NV 89136, phone 702-229-3357, email lisanvcops@hotmail.com.
All of the benefit information above has been complied by COPS, a support group for police survivors.
Contact the National Office of Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. for additional information, or to support any of COPS' programs.
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Web site copyrighted © 2005 by Lydia Warner Miller