§ 12-10. Pension of judges and spouses of deceased judges.

(a) The county council for Montgomery County is authorized to pay to any elected judge of the circuit court for the sixth judicial circuit resident in Montgomery County whose active service is or has been terminated and who is or hereafter becomes entitled to a pension from the State of Maryland under the provisions of any act of the general assembly of Maryland, in addition to any such pension by the state, a pension to be paid by the county. Such pension shall be calculated at one (1) percent of the net supplementation made by Montgomery County, Maryland, to the salaries of the circuit court judges of such county as of May 31, 1968, and such percentage will be multiplied by the number of years or part of a year of active service, by appointment as well as election, up to a maximum number of twenty (20) years.

(b) The county council is authorized to pay and will pay to any elected former judge of the circuit court for Montgomery County, Maryland, who has served at least twenty (20) years of active service as a judge of the State of Maryland, and who has retired and to any judge of the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland who has served as a judge of the circuit court for Montgomery County, Maryland, in addition to any pension by the state, a pension calculated at one (1) percent of the net supplementation made by Montgomery County, Maryland, to the salaries of the circuit court judges of such county as of May 31, 1968, multiplied by the number of years of active serice as a judge of the State of Maryland up to a maximum number of twenty (20) years.

(c) No appropriation for pension of judges shall be paid except in accordance with the provisions of this section. Any former judge not engaged in the active practice of law shall be paid the pension authorized under this section. Any former judge engaged in the active practice of law shall be paid two-thirds of the pension authorized under this section.

(d) The spouse of every judge eligible for a pension under this section who dies in active service shall be paid one-half of the pension to which such judge would have been entitled under this section on the date of death as if such judge had terminated his active service on such date. The spouse of every judge deceased after termination of active service shall be paid one-half of the pension which such judge was receiving at the date of his death; or one-half of the pension to which such judge was entitled on the date of his death if he had not been engaged in the active practice of law whichever is the greater. In order to be entitled to the pension provided by this section, a spouse of a judge who dies during active service shall have been married to such judge for a period of not less than three (3) years prior to such judge’s death, and, in the case of a judge not in active service, not less than three (3) years prior to the date of termination of active service. A spouse who is entitled to a pension under the provisions of this section shall be paid for the period of his or her life unless such spouse remarries, in which event the pension is to cease and terminate.

(e) The county council is hereby authorized to levy upon the assessable property of the county a tax sufficient to pay the pensions provided for in this section. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 7-14; 1968 L.M.C., Ex. Sess., ch. 21, § 1.)

State law reference-Pension of judges and their surviving spouses, Ann. Code of Md., Art. 73B, § 55 et seq.