Request By:
Honorable Thomas J. Keuler
Special Counsel
The City of Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky 42001
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of November 10 in which you state that the initial question raised in your previous letter of October 27 is not in litigation nor is any contemplated; therefore, you request that we respond thereto. Your question was as follows:
"1. If a member of the police or fire department is disabled and receiving an annuity pursuant to KRS 95.862, and after qualifying for such and while receiving the benefits married a woman and then dies, leaving her as his surviving widow, would this widow qualify for any eligible surviving widow's benefits in light of the fact that she married the member after he qualified and was receiving these benefits?"
Our response to the above question would be in the affirmative. KRS 95.862 reads as follows:
"In the event a total and permanent occupational disability occurs, the member shall receive an annuity equal to sixty per cent (60%) of his last rate of salary. This benefit shall begin at such time as his salary may cease, and shall be paid during his entire lifetime. Upon his death, his eligible widow and minor children, if any, shall receive the benefits as provided under KRS 95.860."
We find nothing in the above quoted statute that would limit the benefits of the deceased to the person married to him at the time he qualifies for a pension. As a matter of fact, such an interpretation would be completely out of text which the courts would not tolerate. Reeves v. Fidelity & Columbia Trust Co., 293 Ky. 544, 169 S.W.2d 621 (1942).
The referred to statute simply states that upon the death of the pensioner, his eligible widow shall receive the benefits as provided under KRS 95.860, which provides that his surviving widow shall be entitled to the percentage of his salary therein stated. The term "eligible widow" is not defined but can only mean the surviving widow of the deceased regardless of when they may have been married. Clear and unambiguous language in a statute will be held to mean what is expressly states. Hawley Coal Co. v. Bruce, 252 Ky. 455, 67 S.W.2d 703 (1934).
Under the circumstances, the fact that his surviving widow did not marry the deceased until after he qualified for benefits would in no way affect her right as a surviving widow to receive such benefits as she may be entitled to under the terms of the referred to statutes.