Gov. Code, § 21494 · Article 1. General Provisions
Gov. Code, § 21494
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
If, upon the death of a person there is a valid beneficiary designation on file with the board naming the decedent’s estate as beneficiary, and the estate will be probated, benefits shall be paid to the estate or to the duly authorized representative or representatives of the estate upon receipt by this system of a court order appointing an executor, administrator, or personal representative, or in the case of an estate with a total value not exceeding the amount prescribed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 7660 of the Probate Code, to a public administrator upon receipt by this system of a written certification of authority for summary administration from that public administrator.
If the deceased person had a will, but the estate does not require probate, benefits may, in the judgment of the board, be paid to the beneficiary or beneficiaries, as specified in the will, notwithstanding any other provision of law.
If the deceased person left no will but had a trust, but the estate does not require probate, benefits may, in the judgment of the board, be paid to the successor trustee as named in the trust.
If the deceased person left no will or trust and the estate does not require probate, but the decedent designated his or her estate as the beneficiary, the benefit shall be paid to the next of kin pursuant to Section 21493.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 440, Sec. 13. (AB 1028) Effective January 1, 2012.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=21494.
- Text hash
- sha256 75b2c0f6f9a7b91fd200800e1395a14b76d1aff1d6bf764ccb9180b0f31cb544
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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