§ 103.154.Termination of Payments

Two events stop the money, and one component is exempt from both.

A felony conviction ends the payments. If the claimant is convicted of a crime punishable as a felony after becoming eligible under Section 103.001, compensation payments terminate on the date of that conviction.

The same rule reaches survivors. A spouse or designated beneficiary already receiving annuity payments loses them on a felony conviction of their own.

A terminated beneficiary is treated as deceased. The remainder passes under Section 103.0536 as though the beneficiary had died on the termination date, so the payments move down the line instead of stopping.

Death ends an annuity. Payments terminate on the date of death, and anything scheduled after that is credited to the state.

Nobody inherits an annuity by will or by intestacy. The section forecloses a surviving spouse, heirs, devisees, beneficiaries under a will, and the estate.

The exception is an option the claimant elected. Sections 103.0535 and 103.0536 are carved out, so a spousal continuation or a guaranteed term keeps paying past the claimant’s death.

Child support is exempt from the whole section. Compensation for support payments and interest on arrearages, paid to the state disbursement unit, is not cut off by a later felony or by death.

That exemption follows from who the money is for. The support payment belongs to the obligee under the support order, and the claimant’s later conduct is no reason to withhold it.