§ 6-142 — Wives and widows not entitled to annuities

(A) Except as provided in subsection (B), the following wives or widows have no right to annuity from the fund: (a) A wife or widow married subsequent to the effective date of a fireman who dies in service if she was not married to him before he attained age 63; (b) A wife or widow of a fireman who withdraws, whether or not he enters upon annuity, and dies while out of service, if the marriage occurred after the effective date and she was not his wife while he was in service and before he attained age 63; (c) A wife or widow of a fireman who (1) has served 10 or more years, (2) dies out of service after he has withdrawn from service, and (3) has withdrawn or applied for refund of the sums to his credit for annuity to which he had a right to refund; (d) A wife or widow of a fireman who dies out of service after he has withdrawn before age 63, and who has not served at least 10 years; (e) A wife whose marriage was dissolved or widow of a fireman whose judgment of dissolution of marriage from her fireman husband is annulled, vacated or set aside by proceedings in court subsequent to the death of the fireman, unless (1) such proceedings are filed within 5 years after the date of the dissolution of marriage and within one year after the death of the fireman and (2) the board is made a party to the proceedings; (f) A wife or widow who married the fireman while he was in receipt of disability benefit or disability pension from this fund, unless he returned to the service subsequent to the marriage and remained therein for a period or periods aggregating one year, or died while in service. (B) Beginning on January 16, 2004, the limitation on marriage after withdrawal under subdivision (A)(b) and the limitation on marriage during disability under subdivision (A)(f) no longer apply to a widow who was married to the deceased fireman for at least one year immediately preceding the date of death, regardless of whether the deceased fireman is in service on or after the effective date of Public Act 93-654 or this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly; except that this subsection (B) does not apply to the widow of a fireman who received a refund of contributions for widow's annuity under Section 6-160, unless the refund is repaid to the Fund, with interest at the rate of 4% per year, compounded annually, from the date of the refund to the date of repayment. If the widow of a fireman who died before January 16, 2004 becomes eligible for a widow's annuity because of Public Act 93-654, the annuity shall begin to accrue on the date of application for the annuity, but in no event sooner than January 16, 2004. The changes to this Section made by this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly apply without regard to whether the deceased fireman was in service on or after its effective date. If the widow of a fireman who died before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly becomes eligible for a widow's annuity because of this amendatory Act, the annuity shall begin to accrue on the date of application for the annuity, but in no event sooner than January 16, 2004.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 93-654, eff. 1-16-04; 93-917, eff. 8-12-04.)