(a)

1. (1) The Benefit Restoration Trust Fund is established pursuant to Arkansas Code § 24-7-305, separate from the retirement fund, to hold employers’ contributions to the trust fund.
2. (2) The trust fund is maintained solely to provide benefits under a qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement within the meaning of 26 U.S.C § 415(m) and pay administrative expenses of this arrangement.

(c)

1. (1) All assets held by the trust fund to assist in meeting the employers’ obligations under the plan, including all amounts of employers’ contributions made under the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System Benefit Restoration Plan and Trust, all property and rights acquired or purchased with these amounts, and all income attributable to these amounts shall be held separate and apart from other funds of the employers and shall be used exclusively for the uses and purposes of participants and general creditors as set forth in this plan.
2. (2) Participants do not have a preferred claim on, or any beneficial interest in, any assets of the trust fund.
3. (3) Any rights created under the plan are unsecured contractual rights of participants against the employers.
4. (4) Any assets held by the trust fund are subject to the claims of the employers’ general creditors under federal and state law in the event of insolvency.

(d)

1. (1) The trust fund is intended to be a grantor trust, of which the employers are the grantors, within the meaning of Subpart E, Part I, Subchapter J, Chapter 1, Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as defined by Arkansas Code § 24-7-202, and will be construed accordingly.
2. (2) This subsection does not create an irrevocable trust of any kind.