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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3488 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2915
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
Paul McMurtry
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to updating judicial retirement benefits.
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PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Paul McMurtry11th Norfolk1/17/2025 1 of 6
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3488 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2915
By Representative McMurtry of Dedham, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2915) of
Paul McMurtry relative to updating judicial retirement benefits. Public Service.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2598 OF 2023-2024.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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An Act relative to updating judicial retirement benefits.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition,
2is hereby amended by striking out section 65C and inserting in place thereof the following
3section:-
4 Section 65C: Joint and Survivor Allowance
5 (1) A chief justice, justice, associate justice, judge, associate judge, or special justice,
6hereinafter in this section called judge, who is retired or who resigns and who is entitled to a
7pension or retirement allowance for life under the provisions of section sixty-five A, sixty-five B
8sixty-five D, sixty-five F, or sixty-five I may elect to receive, in lieu thereof, a pension or
9retirement allowance for life at a lesser annual rate with provision that upon his death, there shall
10be paid to such surviving eligible beneficiary as such member shall have nominated in his 2 of 6
11written election of this option, two-thirds of such pension or retirement allowance for life at a
12lesser annual rate provided, however, that if such eligible beneficiary dies on or after the date
13such lesser retirement allowance becomes effective and before the death of such member, such
14member thereafter shall be paid a full retirement allowance and may not choose another option.
15Such full retirement allowance shall be determined by multiplying the amount of the lesser
16retirement allowance at the time of the death of such eligible beneficiary by a fraction the
17numerator of which is the yearly amount of the full retirement allowance which such member
18would have received at the time his retirement allowance became effective, and the denominator
19of which is the yearly amount of the lesser retirement allowance which such member received at
20the time his retirement allowance first became effective. The yearly amount of such lesser
21retirement allowance shall be determined so that the value, on the date such allowance becomes
22effective, of the prospective payments to such member and to such eligible beneficiary shall be
23the actuarial equivalent of the value on such date of the full retirement allowance; provided,
24however, that the yearly amount of such lesser retirement allowance shall be decreased to reflect
25the costs to the system of providing full retirement allowances in accordance with the first
26sentence of this paragraph. Such election shall be in writing on a prescribed form and filed with
27the appropriate retiring authority at the time of retirement or resignation or within thirty days
28thereafter. The computation of said actuarial equivalent shall be subject to supervision and
29verification in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-one by the actuary appointed by
30the public employee retirement administration commission.
31 No person shall be eligible for nomination as beneficiary under the joint and survivor
32allowance under this section unless such person is the spouse, former spouse who has not
33remarried, child, father, mother, sister or brother of such member. 3 of 6
34 If a spouse receiving an allowance as beneficiary under this option dies leaving any
35children of the deceased member and of such spouse who are under age eighteen, such amount as
36would have been paid to such spouse shall be divided into such number of equal shares as there
37are such children, and each such share shall be paid to a guardian for the benefit of each such
38child until the child reaches age eighteen.
39 (2) At any time prior to his retirement a judge upon his written notice on a prescribed
40form filed with the state retirement board prior to his death, may nominate an eligible beneficiary
41as set forth under subdivision (1) of this section, who if such member dies before being retired
42shall receive the yearly amount of the joint and survivor allowance to which such member would
43have been entitled had his retirement taken place on the date of his death.
44 If a judge, who would be entitled, upon resigning, to a pension or retirement allowance
45for life under sections sixty-five A, sixty-five B or sixty-five D, dies before resigning, the
46provisions of paragraph (d) of subdivision (2) or section 12 of chapter 32 shall apply.
47 If a judge forty-five years of age or over but under the age of seventy who would be
48entitled, upon resigning, to a pension or retirement allowance for life under section sixty-five A
49or sixty-five D except for not having attained age seventy, or if a judge forty-five years of age or
50over but under the age of sixty-five, who would be entitled upon resigning to a pension or
51retirement allowance under said section sixty-five A or sixty-five D, except for not having
52attained age sixty-five, or if a judge fifty-five years of age or over but under age sixty-five, who
53would be entitled upon resigning to a pension or retirement allowance for life under section
54sixty-five B, except for not having attained age sixty-five dies before resigning, the judge's
55eligible beneficiary shall receive a pension or retirement allowance for life computed as 4 of 6
56provided in the second paragraph except that, in making such computation the proportion of the
57annual rate of salary payable to a judge under section sixty-five A or sixty-five D or the
58proportion of the average yearly earning for the required years of service payable to a judge
59under section sixty-five B shall be reduced by one per cent for each year or part thereof by which
60the date of death precedes the attainment of the age at which the judge would have received,
61upon resigning, his pension or retirement allowance for life under section sixty-five A, sixty-five
62B or sixty-five D, respectively.
63 Pensions under this section payable to surviving beneficiaries shall be paid from the
64same source and in the same manner as the salaries of like judicial officers of the court from
65which the judge was retired or resigned or of which he was a judge at the time of his death are
66paid. Retirement allowances under this section payable to surviving beneficiaries of judges
67subject to the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of section sixty-five D shall be paid
68pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (h) of section sixty-five D.
69 The provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section shall not apply to a surviving
70spouse unless such surviving spouse and such deceased judge were living together at the time of
71such judge's death or, if living apart, they were living apart, in the opinion of the appropriate
72retiring authority, for justifiable cause other than desertion or moral turpitude on the part of such
73surviving spouse. Payments under said second and third paragraphs shall terminate upon the
74remarriage of such surviving spouse.
75 In determining whether a judge who was appointed prior to January second, nineteen
76hundred and seventy-five, has served in any office or offices at least ten years continuously and
77would be for the purposes of the second or third paragraphs of this section, entitled to a pension 5 of 6
78for life under section sixty-five A or sixty-five B the period, not exceeding one year, of his
79wartime service as defined in section one of chapter thirty-one, whether before or after his
80appointment as a judge, shall be added to and deemed continuous with the period of his service
81in any such office or offices.
82 In determining whether a judge who was appointed prior to January second, nineteen
83hundred and seventy-five, has served in any such office or offices at least ten years continuously
84and would be, for the purposes of the second or third paragraph of this section, entitled to a
85pension for life under section sixty-five A or sixty-five B, each three years spent by him in the
86service of the commonwealth or of any county, city or town thereof shall count as one year of
87creditable service and each such year so credited, but in no event to exceed more than four years
88of such creditable service, shall be added to and deemed continuous with the period of his
89service in any such office or offices.
90 If a judge subject to the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of section sixty-five D dies
91before resigning or before retiring and if the eligible beneficiary is not entitled to a pension or
92retirement allowance under the provisions of this section, or if a judge subject to the provisions
93of paragraphs (a) and (b) of said section sixty-five D dies before resigning or before retiring and
94if there is no eligible beneficiary who is eligible to receive a pension or retirement allowance
95under the provisions of this section, all funds previously withheld and deducted under the
96provisions of paragraph (b) of said section sixty-five D plus interest shall be returned to the
97estate of the deceased.
98 SECTION 2. Paragraph (h) of section 65D of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as so
99appearing, is hereby amended by inserting, after the first sentence, the following sentence: - 6 of 6
100“Payments of such retirement allowances and pensions shall be made as provided in sections
101twelve and thirteen.”