SECTION XV. PRE-RETIREMENT DEATH BENEFITS

Qualified Pre-Retirement Survivor Annuity.
1. In the event of the death prior to retirement of a married Participant with a vested interest, the 50% survivor annuity as provided in Section XII.2 shall be payable to the surviving spouse. The benefit shall be computed as of the date of death of the Participant, but shall not be payable in any event until the month in which the Participant, if not already eligible, would, if living, have become eligible for Early Retirement at age 55. At that time, the surviving spouse may request payment to commence immediately, subject to an actuarial reduction in accordance with the provision of Section XI.1.(b). His or her failure to do so shall be deemed an election to defer payment to the date the deceased Participant would have reached Normal Retirement Age 65. The surviving spouse has the right to waive this benefit and choose the 120 month benefit described in Subsection 2 hereof.
2. The Participant, as in the case of the post-retirement survivor benefit, has the same right to waive the benefit, but only with the written consent of the spouse, as provided in Section XII.2. The Participant shall be supplied with a full explanation of the benefit on the later of the first day of the Plan Year in which the Participant attains age thirty-five, or if already thirty-five, the first day of the Plan Year in which his interest vests. Thereafter, the Participant may waive this benefit or reinstate it as many times as he wishes at any time prior to his death or retirement, but only with the written consent of his spouse as provided in Section XII.2.
Plan Death Benefit.
1. In lieu of the benefit provided in Subsection 1 of this Section, the designated beneficiary of a qualified Participant shall receive the following Plan Death Benefit. A qualified Participant means any Participant who either has accrued ten years of Credited Service or attained age 55 and accrued five years of Credited Service, and who either is single, or is married and has elected this benefit and designated a beneficiary on a form acceptable to the Trustees with the written consent of his or her spouse, properly notarized or witnessed by a Plan Representative.
2. The designated beneficiary means any person or persons that the Participant designates in writing, subject to the following conditions:
  1. No designation by a married Participant of anyone other than the Participant's spouse shall be effective unless the spouse has properly consented in writing to that designation. If a married Participant and spouse waive the Qualified Pre-Retirement Survivor Annuity but fail to name a beneficiary, the Plan shall presume that the spouse was intended as beneficiary.
  2. The designation of a spouse as beneficiary for this benefit shall be automatically revoked by the dissolution of the marriage of the Participant and that spouse, unless the designation is preserved in a Qualified Domestic Relations Order at the time of the dissolution, or reinstated in writing by the Participant.
  3. If a non-married Participant has a minor child or minor children at the time of his death, the child or children shall be the beneficiary in lieu of any person named by the Participant.
3. If a designated beneficiary dies before receiving the full benefit, or a non-married Participant fails to designate a beneficiary, any unpaid benefits shall be paid to the Participant's spouse, if the Participant was married at the time of his or her death and the spouse is alive at the time of the death of the beneficiary, but if not, to the Participant's children, if any are living.
4. The amount of the benefit shall be the Participant's normal benefit earned to the date of the Participant's death. This benefit shall be payable on the first day of the month following the date of the Participant's death, and shall commence when the Trustees determine who is to receive the benefit. This benefit shall terminate when the beneficiary or beneficiaries have received 120 monthly payments, or when there is no qualified beneficiary, whichever is earlier.