S.L.W. v. New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits (081723) (Statewide)

**387 When members of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (PFRS) die after retirement, their children and widowed spouses are eligible to receive survivor benefits under **388 N.J.S.A. 43:16A-12.1. S.L.W., an adult woman with disabilities, sought survivor benefits after her father, a longtime member of the New Jersey law enforcement community, passed in 2012. The Division of Pensions and Benefits (Division) maintains S.L.W. is ineligible. It argues that to receive survivor benefits she must prove that she was dependent on her father before his death, citing N.J.A.C. 17:4-3.7.

The…