N.J. Stat. § 18A:66-79
Any such group policy or policies shall include, with respect to any insurance terminating or reducing because the member has ceased to be in service or has retired, the conversion privilege available upon termination of employment as prescribed by the law relating to group life insurance; and shall also include, with respect to insurance terminating because of termination of the group policy resulting from a termination of the death benefits for all members established under sections 18A:66-36, 18A:66-37, 18A:66-38, 18A:66-41, 18A:66-42, 18A:66-44, 18A:66-46 and 18A:66-53, the conversion privilege available upon termination of the group policy as prescribed by such law. Any such group policy or policies shall also provide that if a member dies during the 31-day period during which he would be entitled to exercise the conversion privilege, the amount of insurance with respect to which he could have exercised the conversion privilege, shall be paid as a claim under the group policy.
If any member who has exercised the conversion privilege under the group policy or policies again becomes a member of the teachers' pension and annuity fund, and the individual policy obtained pursuant to the conversion privilege is still in force, he shall not again be eligible for any of the death benefits provided by this article unless he furnishes satisfactory evidence of insurability.
When benefits payable upon the death of a member following retirement are determined as though he were an active member at the time of his death, the death benefit payable under the group policy or policies together with the amount of insurance paid under any individual policy obtained under the conversion privilege, shall in no event exceed the amount of insurance for which the member was insured under the group policy or policies immediately prior to the date the right of conversion arose.
N.J.S. § 18A:66-79