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All of the benefit information below has been complied by COPS, a support group for police survivors.
Rev. 09/04
STATE OF WASHINGTON
DEATH BENEFITS
To obtain certified copies of registered personal documents, contact Vital Records, P. O. Box
9709, ET 11, Olympia, WA 98504-9709, phone (206) 753-5936.
STATE DEATH BENEFIT
Under Washington law, all full-time law enforcement officers and commissioned state
troopers participate in the Law Enforcement Officers' and Fire Fighters' (LEOFF) or
Washington State Patrol Retirement System (WSPRS) retirement systems. The 1996
Legislature passed a bill which established a survivor benefit in the amount of $150,000. The
benefit will be paid to beneficiaries of members and duty-disability retirees of LEOFF and
WSPRS "where death occurs as a result of injuries sustained in the course of employment."
This is a separate benefit that has no effect on any other benefits payable from LEOFF and
WSPRS.
The Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) has created a beneficiary form that pertains
only to the $150,000 benefit. When a covered employee or retiree dies, the beneficiary is to
notify DRS. DRS will provide the beneficiary with an Application for Death Benefit. Upon
receipt of the application and death certificate, DRS submits the documents and necessary
information to the Department of Labor and Industries for determination whether the covered
employee's or retiree's death is a result of injuries sustained in the course of LEOFF or
WSPRS-covered employment.
Contact the Plan Administrator at the Department of Retirement Systems, (360) 709-
4728.
STATE PENSION BENEFITS
Under Washington law, all full-time law enforcement officers and commissioned state
troopers participate in the Law Enforcement Officers' and Fire Fighters' (LEOFF) or
Washington State Patrol Retirement System (WSPRS) retirement systems. Both
retirement systems provide survivor benefits to spouses and children of retirement system
members who die while in service. (These benefits are not limited only to survivors of
officers killed in the line of duty, but are available to survivors of any officer who dies while
employed as a law enforcement officer - regardless of the cause of death.) Under both
retirement systems, survivor death benefits are calculated based on the deceased officer's
salary for the two years preceding his/her death.
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Retirement allowances.
(1) The normal form of retirement allowance shall be an allowance
which shall continue as long as the member lives.
(2) If a member should die while in service, the member's lawful
spouse shall be paid an allowance which shall be equal to fifty
percent (50%) of the average final salary of the member. The
allowance paid to the lawful spouse shall continue as long as the
spouse lives or until the spouse remarries. To be eligible for an
allowance the lawful surviving spouse shall have been married to
the member at least two years prior to the member's death.
(3) If a member should die while in service, the member's surviving
children under the age of eighteen shall be provided for in the
following manner:
Each unmarried child under the age of eighteen years of
age shall be entitled to a benefit equal to five percent (5%) of
the final average salary of the member. The combined benefits
to the surviving spouse and all children shall not exceed
sixty percent (60%) of the final average salary of the member.
(4) If a member should die in the line of duty while employed by the
Washington State Patrol, the member's surviving children under
the age of twenty years and eleven months if attending any high
school, college, university, or vocational or other educational
institution accredited or approved by the state of Washington
shall hereafter be entitled to a benefit equal to five percent (5%) of
the final average salary of the member. The combined benefits to
the surviving spouse and all children shall not exceed sixty
percent (60%) of the final average salary of the member: Provided,
that if a beneficiary under this section shall reach the age of
twenty-one years during the middle of a term of enrollment the
benefit shall continue until the end of said term.
EDUCATION BENEFITS
28B.15.380 Exemption from payment of fees at state universities.
The board of regents at Washington state universities may exempt the following class of
persons from the payment of general tuition fees, operating fees, or service and activities
fees exempt for individual instruction fees: Children after the age of nineteen years of any
law enforcement officer or fire fighter who lost his life or became totally disabled in the line
of duty while employed by any public law enforcement agency or full time volunteer fire
department in this state. Contact your local police department or state university for
specific details on entrance requirements.
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Rev. 09/04
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 Washington, the
death must have occurred since September 1998. 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: Rafael Padilla, Criminal Justice Training Center, 19010
First Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98148, telephone 1-866-492-7472, email
pcinfo@cjtc.state.wa.us.
HEALTH BENEFITS
Health plans vary from agency to agency. Check with your local department to determine
what health benefits you and your dependents might be eligible to receive.
WORKERS' COMPENSATION
Workers' Compensation coverage is compulsory for employers in Washington.
Benefit is 60% of employee's wage for a surviving spouse and 70% for a surviving spouse
with child(ren) with a minimum weekly benefit of $44.05 to $83.81 according to the
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Rev. 09/04
number of dependents and a maximum weekly benefit of $517.16. Lump sum of $1,600
becomes payable at time of death. Maximum burial allowance is $2,000.
Upon remarriage, surviving spouse is entitled to $7,500 or 50% of remaining annuity
value, if less, and weekly benefits cease. Children receive benefits until age 18 or beyond
age 18 if disabled, or until age 23 if full-time students.
To receive workers' compensation benefits the surviving spouse must take the initiative and
file a workers' compensation claim through a workers' compensation attorney to receive any
compensation. The determination as to whether the claim will be paid will be determined by
the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.
Contact the Industrial Insurance Division of the Department of Labor and Industries,
P. O. Box 44001, Olympia, WA 98504-4001, telephone (206) 956-5800.
PERSONAL LIFE POLICIES
Descent and Distribution: Upon the death of decedent, one-half share of community
property and of quasi-community property is confirmed to surviving spouse and other one-half
share, if not subject of testimony disposition, shall descend and be distributed as provided in
following subhead as shall all other property with respect to which decedent died intestate.
Descent and Distribution of Real and Personal Property -
Surviving Spouse:
(a) All of decedent's share of net community and quasi-community
state; and
(b) 1/2 of net separate estate if intestate is survived by issue; or
(c) 3/4 of net separate estate if there is no surviving issue, but
intestate is survived by one or more of his parents, or by one or
more of issue of one or more of his parents; or
(d) all of net estate, if there is no surviving issue nor parent nor issue
of parent.
Shares Of Others Than Surviving Spouse: Share of net estate not distributable to surviving
spouse, or entire net estate if there is no surviving spouse, as follows:
(a) To issue of intestate; if in same degree of kinship to intestate they
take equally; if of unequal degree those of more remote degree
take by representation;
(b) if intestate not survived by issue then to parents who survive;
(c) if intestate not survived by issue or parent then to those issue of
parents who survive; if all in same degree of kinship to intestate
they take equally; if of unequal degree those of more remote
degree take by representation;
(d) if intestate not survived by issue or by parent, or by any issue of
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parents, then to grandparent(s) who survive; if both maternal and
paternal grandparents survive, maternal grandparent(s) take 1/2
and paternal grandparent(s) take 1/2;
(e) if intestate not survived by issue, parent(s), by any issue of
parent(s), or by grandparent(s) then to issue of grandparent(s)
who survive; taken as groups issue of maternal grandparent(s)
share equally if in same degree of kinship to intestate, or if of
unequal degree then issue of more remote degree take by
representation.
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 Washington State COPS, Ms. Rhea Marshall, Secretary,
1005 N. McDonald Road, Spokane, WA 99216, 509-893-2544,
copsnewstoRhea@qwest.net
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