12(1)A judge who, at the time when payments of an annual pension under section 8 or subsection 13(1) are to begin to be paid to the judge, or at the time when a notice of election is delivered to the Minister as provided for in subsection 14(5) or 15(6), has no spouse or common-law partner and no dependent child may at that time elect to be paid a lifetime annual pension, in accordance with subsection (5), in an amount that is less than the amount payable to the judge under section 8 or subsection 13(1), 14(1) or 15(2), in which case a payment under subsection (2) shall be guaranteed to the judge’s estate during the period of five, ten or fifteen years after the payments of the reduced pension are to begin to be made to the judge, as selected by the judge.