My Husband Died At Work
My husband died at work is an unfortunate reality for many wives. People say my husband went to his job and died at work. In this article, top wrongful death attorney Jimmy Hanaie, esq discusses this topic as well as the legal rights and legal options when a husband has passed away at the workplace.
Generally, my husband died at work involves workers compensation and wrongful death legal claims. The main type of claim when a husband or wife dies at work is workers compensation death benefits for the dependents.
My Husband
We offer our most since condolences. In my many years of experience representing wrongful death and workers compensation death benefit cases as a lawyer, I know all the questions you may be wondering and answers you are looking for may be keeping you awake and causing a lot of stress and heartache.
Death Benefits
After your husband is killed on the job or dies at work, the spouse is generally entitled to “death benefits” through a workers compensation claim. We will discuss some of the parameters and limitations of how this works.
Death Due To Work Injury Or Illness
The death of your husband usually must be related to a work injury or work illness in order to qualify for workers compensation death benefits. Even if your husband got injured or got sick at work and died month or even died years later, you could generally be entitled to receive death benefits.
Long Term Illness
Sometimes your husband may have developed an illness while at work, but did not pass away until months or years later. For example, your husband may have become sick due to mesothelioma, asbestos, or other chemical exposure, and passed away months or years later. In these cases, you can generally still qualify to receive death benefits. However, some time limits or proof requirements usually apply as well.
Death Benefit Payouts
Death benefits are usually paid either in installment payments or a one lump sum payment. The level of income your husband had prior to his injury or death can have a big impact on the amount of death benefits you receive sometimes.
Financial Support
Financial support that you received from your now deceased husband usually becomes very important in a legal case. Workers compensation death benefits are supposed to compensate for the loss of that financial support after your husband has passed away on the job.
Fully Dependent vs. Partially Dependent
Courts look to see how dependent you and your children were on the financial support of your husband who died at work. Although fully dependent can make your claim even stronger in some situations, if you were only partially dependent on the financial support that can usually be enough as well to make a death benefits claim.
Domestic Partners
It is important to note that domestic partners can also have legal rights and be entitled to compensation similar to married couples Although there are differing levels of proof needed to be shown, there are still usually options available to even those couples who are not married.
Divorced Partners
Divorced partners can also have wrongful death and work comp cases when their former spouse has passed away in a tragic accident. There are usually requirements regarding financial dependency.
Children
Usually, your children will also be eligible to get paid death benefits under worker compensation law if they were dependent on your now deceased husband.
Minor Children (Under 18 Years Old)
The deceased husband’s minor children under the age of 18 years old are dependents in pretty much all cases. Therefore, they are usually entitled to receive death benefit compensation. Minor children will usually receive death benefits until their 18th birthday.
Children With Disabilities
Adult children of the deceased husband which are deemed to have either a mental disability or physical disability that causes the adult child of the deceased husband to be unable to properly earn a living, are almost always considered dependents as well. It is possible for disabled minor children to receive death benefits for life.
Preexisting Medical Conditions
Yes, even if your husband had preexisting medical conditions unrelated to work, you could still usually qualify for death benefits. If your husband’s job contributed to and aggravated his poor health conditions and he passed away, you can still usually have a claim for workers comp death benefits.
Burial And Funeral Expenses
When you win your workers compensation case, they will typically also part some reasonable portion of your burial and funeral expenses. However, it must be reasonable and their are limits on how much they may pay.
Medical Expenses
It is usually also possible to get workers compensation benefits to pay the reasonable medical expenses of your husband’s injury which led to his death. Again, there are limits on this and the costs should be reasonable under the circumstances.
Social Security Survivor Benefits
Many people also receive survivor benefits through Social Security survivor benefits. However, receiving survivor benefits might reduce the amount of compensation you received through death benefits, because there is usually an offset deducted.