1. (a) Payments that are due a deceased person entitled to a TCDRS benefit and have not been made, or have been made but are not negotiable after the person's death are payable to the valid surviving beneficiary of the person on file with TCDRS on the date of the person's death. If there is no surviving beneficiary, the payments are payable to the person's spouse. If there is no surviving spouse, the payments are payable to the executor or administrator of the person's estate.
2. (b) If the total value of the payments described above is not more than $10,000, and there is no surviving beneficiary or spouse (or diligent efforts by TCDRS to discover, locate and correspond with a surviving beneficiary or spouse have proven fruitless); and no petition for the appointment of an administrator or executor is pending or has been granted, and a small estates affidavit has not been filed with TCDRS, then upon application, TCDRS may, but is not required to, issue payment (including any optional group term life benefit), in trust to a relative of the decedent who would have a right of inheritance assuming the decedent had died intestate without relatives of a closer degree.

Source Note:The provisions of this §107.7 adopted to be effective January 8, 2026, 51 TexReg 159.