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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 MISSOURI
DEATH BENEFITS
To obtain certified copies of registered personal documents, contact Vital Statistics, PO
Box 570, Jefferson City, MO 65102, phone (573) 751-6400.
STATE DEATH BENEFITS
The state of Missouri does not pay a one-time death benefit for law enforcement officers
killed in the line of duty.
STATE PENSION BENEFITS
There is no state-wide retirement system for law enforcement officers. However,
Chapter 86 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri sets forth guidelines for various
retirement systems for police officers depending on the size of city that the officer is
employed by. These retirement systems ARE NOT administered by any state agency.
Alternate Retirement System in Cities of 700,000 or more.
86.213. Board of trustees to administer-members of board, selection-terms.-The general
administration and the responsibility for the proper operation of the retirement system and for
making effective the provisions of sections 86.200 to 86.363 are hereby vested in a board of
trustees of ten persons.
The board shall consist of: the president of the board of police commissioners of the city (ex
officio), the comptroller of the city (ex officio), three members appointed by the mayor of the
city, three members elected by the members of the retirement system of the city, two members
who are retirees of the retirement system elected by the retirees of the retirement system.
86.288. Contributions paid to widows, when, from retirement system funds only.- Unless
the provisions of subsection 2 apply, in addition to any other benefits payable, there shall
be paid to the widow of a member with twenty or more years of service who dies on or
after September 28, 1981, and while commissioned as a policeman the total amount of the
member's contribution to the retirement system, without interest, within sixty days after
proper proofs of death are provided. The amount shall be withdrawn from the general
revenue fund of any city of 700,000 or more inhabitants.
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If your city has a population greater than 700,000, check with your agency’s Benefits
Assistance Officer about these benefits.
Cities 300,000 to 700,000.
For cities of this size, the general administration and the responsibility for the proper
operation of the retirement system are vested in a retirement board of nine persons, according
to section 86.393. The board shall consist of two members selected by the board of police
commissioners, one of whom shall be of the political party casting the highest number of
votes statewide for governor in the election next preceding such member’s selection and the
other of whom shall be of the political party casting the next highest number of votes
statewide for governor, two members selected by the city council following the same political
criteria, and five members elected by members of the police retirement system.
86.447. Pensions of dependents of deceased retired members-funeral benefit.- 1. Upon
receipt of the proper proofs of death of a member in service for any reason whatever or
the death of a member after having been retired and pensioned, there shall be paid, in
addition to all other benefits, the following:
1) To his surviving spouse, if any, a pension equal to 40% of the final compensation of
such member, which pension shall terminate on the remarriage of such surviving
spouse;
2) To his child or children under the age of 18 at the time of decease, $50 per month
each until he or she shall attain the age of 18; however each such child who is or
becomes a full-time student at an accredited educational institution shall continue to
receive payments until the age of 21; any child 18 or older who is physically or
mentally incapacitated from wage earning shall be entitled to the same benefits as a
child under the age of 18;
3) A funeral benefit of $1,000.
2. If there is no person qualified to receive a pension as a surviving spouse or if a surviving
spouse remarries or dies, the total amount which would be received by a qualified
surviving spouse or which is being received by the surviving spouse at the date of the
remarriage or death of such surviving spouse shall be added to the amounts received by
and shall be divided among the children under the age of 18 and the incapacitated children
in equal shares.
3. No surviving spouse shall be entitled to receive benefits or the payment of a pension under
this section unless marriage to the member occurred at least two years before the
member’s retirement or at least two years before the death of the member while in service;
provided, that no benefits shall be denied under this subsection to the surviving
spouse of a member whose death occurred in the line of duty or from an occupational
disease arising out of and in the course of the member’s employment.
4. If no benefits are otherwise payable to a surviving spouse or child of a deceased member,
the member’s accumulated contributions, to any extent not fully paid to such member
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prior to the member’s death or to the surviving spouse or child of such member, shall be
paid in one lump sum to the member’s named beneficiary or, if none, to the member’s
estate.
If your city has a population between 300,000 and 700,000, check with your agency’s
Benefits Assistance Officer about these benefits.
If your officer was employed by a municipality of less than 300,000 population, it is
possible that there is a local retirement system of which (s)he was a member. Talk with
your agency’s Benefits Assistance Officer.
Employees of the State of Missouri may be members of either the “Highways and
Transportation Employees’ and Highway Patrol Retirement System” (Sec.104.020) or
the “Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System” (Sec.104.320). County sheriffs may
be members of the “Sheriffs’ Retirement Fund” (Sec.57.952) All three systems provide
survivors’ benefits if a vested member dies. Your agency’s Benefits Assistance Officer
should be able to assist you.
EDUCATION BENEFITS
Within the limits of the amounts appropriated therefore, the Coordinating Board for Higher
Education shall provide a grant for either of the following to attend an institution of
postsecondary education:
1. An eligible child of a public safety officer or employee killed or permanently and
totally disabled in the line of duty; or
2. A spouse of a public safety officer or employee killed or permanently and totally
disabled in the line of duty.
An eligible child or spouse may receive a grant only so long as the child or spouse is enrolled
in a program leading to a certificate, or an associate or baccalaureate degree. In no event shall
a child or spouse receive a grant beyond the completion of the first baccalaureate degree
or, in the case of a child, age twenty-four years, except that the child may receive a grant
through the completion of the semester or similar grading period in which the child reaches
his 24th year. No child or spouse shall receive more than 100% of tuition when combined with
similar funds made available to such child or spouse.
The Coordinating Board for Higher Education may determine minimum standards of
performance in order for a child or spouse to remain eligible to receive a grant under this
program. An eligible child or spouse who is enrolled or has been accepted for enrollment as
an undergraduate postsecondary student at an approved institution of postsecondary education
shall receive a grant in an amount not to exceed the lesser of the actual tuition or the
amount of tuition charged a Missouri resident at the University of Missouri for
attendance as a full-time student taking 12 hours.
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If an eligible child or spouse is granted financial assistance under any other student aid
program, public or private, the full amount of such aid shall be reported to the Board by the
institution and the eligible child or spouse.
Contact the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, 101 Adams Street, Jefferson
City, MO 65101, phone (573) 751-3940, or the Missouri Student Assistance Resource
Services (MOSTARS) at 3315 Amazonas Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109, (573) 751-
2361.
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,
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 within the state after
that state was approved to participate in the Police Corps program. In Missouri, the
death must have occurred since April 1997. 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: Mr. Mark Byington, Mineral Area College Department
of Public Safety, 2570 Flat River Road, PO Box 1000, Park Hill, MO 63601, telephone
(573) 518-2179, fax (573) 518-2286, email chicks@mail.mac.cc.mo.us, or
www.mocorps.org.
HEALTH BENEFITS
Varied - check with your local police agency for details.
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WORKERS' COMPENSATION
Workers' Compensation coverage is compulsory for employers in Missouri with 5 or more
employees.
Benefit for spouse or spouse and child(ren) is 66 2/3% of the employee's wage with a
minimum weekly benefit of $40 and a maximum weekly benefit of $470.06. Two-year
lump sum payable to spouse upon remarriage and weekly benefits cease.
Children receive benefits until age 18 or beyond age 18 if disabled, or until age 22 if full-time
students, and beyond age 23 if on active duty in the armed Forces. There is also a maximum
burial allowance of $5,000.
Contact the Division of Workers' Compensation, State Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations, 3315 W. Truman Blvd., Jefferson City, MO 65102, telephone (573)
751-4231.
PERSONAL LIFE POLICY - INTESTATE
Descent and Distribution - Subject to payment and claims and rights of surviving spouse, all
property as to which decedent dies intestate descends and is distributed to one of the following
classes: (1) Children and descendants of deceased children; (2) parents, brothers, sisters and
descendants of deceased brothers and sisters; (3) grandparents, uncles, aunts and descendants
of deceased uncles and aunts; (4) great grandparents and descendants and so on without end,
the estate going to the nearest lineal ancestors and their children and descendants of deceased
children of such ancestors, provided that all collateral relatives more distant than ninth degree
of kinship according to rules of civil law may not inherit. (474.010(2)).
If there be no children or their descendants, father, mother, brother nor sister, nor their
descendants, husband or wife, nor any paternal or maternal kindred capable of inheriting, the
estate goes to the kindred of the intestate's predeceased spouse in like course as though such
spouse had survived the intestate and then died entitled to the estate. (474.010 (3)).
Where all the descendants, ancestors or collaterals coming into partition are of equal degree of
kin to the intestate they take per capita; otherwise they take per stirpes. (474.020).
Surviving spouse takes the entire estate if intestate left neither parent nor issue. If
decedent left no issue but did leave one or both parents, or if decedent left issue all of whom
are also issue of surviving spouse, surviving spouse takes one-half intestate estate if there are
surviving issue who are not issue of surviving spouse. (474.010(1)). Premarital contracts
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whereby any estate, real or personal, is received effective after death of spouse and expressed
to be in full discharge of all rights of inheritance or other statutory rights in estate, are valid.
(474.120).
Gifts in fraud of marital rights shall at election of surviving spouse be treated as a
testamentary disposition and recovered from donee or transferees without adequate
consideration and applied to payment of spouse's share as in case of election to take against a
will. (474.150).
In addition to the foregoing, either surviving spouse is entitled to certain specified articles and
allowances for support.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
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: Ms. Tracy Meyers-Keeling, President, MO COPS, 4335
NW Claymont Drive, Kansas City, MO 64116, phone 816-509-3220, email
tracy@mocops.org.
The Missouri Peace Officer's Association offers a one-time benefit of $1,000 to the family
of an officer who is killed in the line of duty as approved on a case-by-case basis by the
executive board. Further information can be obtained by contacting the Missouri Peace
Officers' Association, 1806 Swift, Suite 106, North Kansas City, MO 64116, telephone
(816)842-3533, email mopoa@prodigy.net.
The Missouri Association of State Troopers Emergency Relief Society (MASTERS)
provides assistance to families of Missouri state troopers killed in the line of duty. This
organization provides financial assistance for funeral expenses, home mortgages, and student
educational benefits for immediate family members. Further information can be obtained
by contacting The MASTERS, Route 6 Box 564, Poplar Bluff, MO 63901.
The State FOP Lodge offers a $1,000 life insurance policy on all members, increasing $100
per year he/she is a member, to a maximum of $1,500. This amount is tripled if the officer
is slain in the line of duty.
The Parole Board, directed by statute, notifies victims of escapees, furloughs and parole
hearings. Contact your local Missouri Department of Corrections Board of Probation and
Parole. If the victim responds in anyway to the hearing notice, they are also notified of
specific release plans. However, the Board is not bound by statute and does not notify victims
of inmate movement within the prison system.
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The Backstoppers (The Policemen & Firemen Fund of St. Louis, Inc.)
From 1959, The Backstoppers have but one purpose: To ease suffering and provide muchneeded
financial assistance for the spouses and dependent children of policemen and
firefighters who lose their lives in the performance of duty.
The Backstoppers offer of assistance is proffered to families of members of all local, county,
police and fire departments. The Backstoppers serve a geographical area that includes the
City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Jefferson County, St. Charles County, and Franklin
County in Missouri; and the Illinois counties of Madison and St. Clair. Contact The
Backstoppers, P. O. Box 7717, Chesterfield, MO 63006-7717, telephone (314) 230-9898.
LAW ENFORCEMENT MEMORIAL
The Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial is located behind the Missouri State Capitol in
Jefferson City, Missouri.
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