Workers’ compensation in Texas provides different types of benefits including medical coverage for the injured worker as well as disability income. If the worker passes away as a direct result of an illness or injury related to job duties, his surviving family members will also be taken care of by workers’ compensation to ensure they do not experience financial hardship.
Death benefits for widows are available after a worker’s death, as are benefits to pay for the cost of burial. Widowers may also receive death benefits. You need to understand the steps to apply for death benefits, so contact an experienced Texas workers’ compensation lawyer at Abbott, Clay & Bedoy, LLC as soon as possible after your loved one has passed away. Your attorney can help you with completing all forms and paperwork and can assist you in understanding the types of benefits that you are entitled to receive.
Death Benefits are Available for Widows After a Worker’s Death
Death benefits for widows and for widowers should begin the day after the worker has passed away due to a work injury or accident. The amount payable as a death benefit to the widow equals 75 percent of the deceased employee’s average weekly wages before the injury occurred. There are maximum and minimum benefit limits for weekly benefits in Texas and these apply to the death benefits that a widow will receive. If there are dependent children, the widow or widower is obligated to share the death benefits. The dependent children will receive one half of the death benefits and the surviving spouse will receive half of the death benefits.
Death benefits are available for widows after a workers’ death for an indefinite period of time, as long as the widow remains qualified to receive the income. A surviving spouse can continue to receive death benefits for the remainder of his or her life, unless and until he remarries. Upon remarriage, the surviving spouse will receive a lump sum payment and will no longer continue to receive any death benefits. The lump sum payment will be equal to two years, or 104 weeks, of the benefits that were being paid out.
In order to be eligible to receive death benefits, beneficiaries must complete and submit forms to the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation. The required form is entitled: Beneficiary Claim for Death Benefits (DWC Form-042). The form must be completed and submitted within one year of the date that the worker passed away due to the workplace illness or workplace injury.
You deserve to receive death benefits if your loved one has passed away. Both widows and widowers can submit the form to make their claim to receive benefits. The person who paid for the funeral of the deceased- whether that is a spouse or someone else- can also submit a claim to receive compensation for burial money.
A Texas workers’ compensation lawyer at Abbott, Clay & Bedoy, LLC can help you to understand your rights, complete all required forms, and make your claim to receive death benefits. Call as soon as possible to get help with your claim.