§ 27-17-01 — Retirement of supreme court judges and district court judges

1. Every judge of the supreme court or of the district court, including one who has served
or shall have served in either or both capacities, shall, at the time the judge ceases to
be such judge and regardless of the individual's age at that time and without further
payment by that individual into the judicial retirement fund, acquire a vested right to the
judicial retirement salary herein provided for, payable upon application therefor at any
time after that individual has attained any of the retirement ages with years of service,
as follows:
a. 65 and 20 years of service;
b. 66 and 18 years of service;
c. 67 and 16 years of service;
d. 68 and 14 years of service;
e. 69 and 12 years of service; or
f. 70 and 10 years of service.
Provided, however, that any judge of the supreme court or district court who is
appointed or elected to such court from and after July 1, 1960, who has become
eligible for retirement hereunder but fails to make application therefor prior to attaining
the age of seventy-three years, shall automatically waive all retirement benefits
hereunder and shall receive a return of only such moneys as have been retained by
the state of North Dakota as a judicial retirement assessment, upon the salary of such
judge.
2. If a judge has served fewer than the years of service above required for any given
retirement age, the judge is entitled to receive judicial retirement salary only in
proportion that the judge's years of service bear to the years of service otherwise
required for retirement at such age. Any judge who has not served at least ten years
on reaching that individual's seventy-third birthday may not be deemed to have waived
retirement benefits under this chapter, provided the judge retires at the expiration of
the judge's present term.
3. The amount of judicial retirement salary payable to a retired judge under subsection 1
must be equal to fifty percent of the annual salary payable to judges of the
classification the retired judge had at the time the individual retired, provided that prior
to retirement the individual was re-elected as a judge of either the supreme or district
court following July 1, 1973, but in no event may the individual's judicial retirement
salary be computed upon a judicial salary less than the one the individual last received
prior to re-election. The amendment to this section may not be construed to affect
supreme or district court judges who shall have retired prior to July 1, 1973, or who
shall retire during or at the end of their term of office which commenced prior to that
date. As used in this subsection, the word "re-elected" also includes election of a
former district judge to the supreme court, and election of a former supreme court
judge to the district court.
4. The judicial retirement salary payable under this section must be paid to the retired
judge during the remainder of the individual's natural life and must be paid by the
director of the office of management and budget, within thirty days after receiving
application therefor, in the same manner as salaries are paid to judges of the district
court and judges of the supreme court, except that judicial retirement salaries are not
subject to judicial retirement assessment.
5. In lieu of receiving the judicial retirement salary otherwise payable under this chapter,
the judge, at any time after having attained retirement age, may irrevocably elect to
receive judicial retirement salary according to one of the following optional modes of
payment:
a. First Option. Three-fourths of the judge's retirement salary payable to the judge
alone until death and thereafter one-half of such amount payable to the surviving

spouse upon the spouse's attaining sixty-two years of age and until the spouse
remarries or dies.
b. Second Option. Two-thirds of the judge's retirement salary payable to the judge
alone until death and thereafter a like amount payable to the surviving spouse
upon the spouse's attaining sixty-two years of age and until the spouse remarries
or dies.
c. Third Option. One-half of the judge's retirement salary payable to the judge until
death and a like amount payable to the spouse upon the spouse's attaining
sixty-two years of age and so long as the spouse continues to be the judge's
spouse or unremarried surviving spouse.
The election of one of the foregoing optional modes of payment must be made in the
application for payment of judicial retirement salary, or by written declaration of such
election, signed by the judge and delivered to the director of the office of management
and budget. In the event the judge has elected an optional mode of payment and dies
without having made application for judicial retirement salary, the judicial retirement
salary payable to the surviving spouse according to the judge's option is payable to the
surviving spouse in the same manner as if the judge had made application for judicial
retirement salary. In the event that a judge entitled to retirement pay dies without
having elected an optional mode of payment, the surviving spouse is entitled to
payments as provided by the first option as set forth in subdivision a. Judicial
retirement salary payable according to one of the foregoing optional modes of
payment must be paid in like manner as the full judicial retirement salary is paid. Any
judge who retired prior to the effective date of the amendment to this section as
provided for in chapter 222 of the 1961 Session Laws, and otherwise eligible for the
optional modes of payment herein provided for, may apply for one of the optional
modes of payment by written declaration to the director of the office of management
and budget; provided, however, such judge shall repay to the state treasury the
amount of money the individual has drawn since the date of the individual's retirement
in excess of what the individual would have drawn if the individual had chosen the
optional mode of payment now applied for at the date of the individual's retirement.