Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) Where a contributor dies before retirement leaving a widow or widower, there shall, subject to subsection (2), be paid to the widow or widower pension equal to five - eighths (or, if the contributor elected that section 26 should not apply to him--one - half) of the sum of:
(a) the pension for which the contributor was contributing at the time of his or her death; and
(b) the pension (if any) that would have been payable to the contributor in respect of non - contributory units of pension if he or she had attained the age of sixty - five years at that time.
(2) Pension shall not be paid to the widower of a female contributor under subsection (1) unless, in the opinion of the Board, he was wholly or substantially dependent upon her immediately before her death, and pension under subsection (1) shall not continue to be paid to the widower of a female contributor in respect of any period during which, in the opinion of the Board, the circumstances of the widower are such that, if those circumstances had existed immediately before the death of the contributor, the widower would not have been wholly or substantially dependent upon the contributor at that time.
(3) Where a contributor dies before retirement leaving a widow or widower, there shall, in addition to any pension that may be payable to her or him under subsection (1), be paid to the widow or widower, in respect of each eligible child of the contributor and each eligible child of the widow or widower (other than a child of any remarriage of the widow or widower), a pension at the rate of $208 per annum.
(4) On the death of the widow or widower of a contributor who died before retirement, there shall be paid in respect of each eligible child of the contributor and each eligible child of the widow or widower (other than a child of any remarriage of the widow or widower) a pension at the rate of $520 per annum or at a rate of such amount per annum as is determined in accordance with subsection (5), whichever rate is the higher.
(5) The amount to be determined for the purposes of subsection (4) is the sum of $208 and an amount ascertained by dividing by four (or, if the number of eligible children of the contributor and of the widow or widower in respect of whom pension is payable under subsection (4) is greater than four, by the number of those children) the amount of the annual rate of the pension that, but for the death of the widow or widower, would, by virtue of subsection (1), have been payable to the widow or widower or have been so payable but for subsection (2).
(6) Where:
(a) a female contributor dies before retirement leaving a widower who, in the opinion of the Board, was not wholly or substantially dependent upon the contributor immediately before her death; and
(b) the present value, as determined by the Board, of any pension or pensions payable under subsection (3) on the death of the contributor in respect of any child or children, together with the value, as determined by the Board, of any pension or pensions that may, in the opinion of the Board, become payable in respect of that child or those children under subsection (4) on the death of the widower, is less than the contributions made by the contributor;
the amount of the difference shall be paid to the personal representatives of the contributor, or, if there are no such personal representatives, to such persons, if any, as the Board determines.
(7) This section does not apply in respect of a contributor who, on or after 1 July 1976, dies before retirement.