MISSOURI WORKERS COMPENSATION: DEATH BENEFITS

MISSOURI WORKERS COMPENSATION: DEATH BENEFITS
People across Missouri go to work each day expecting to make it back home. Some
with more physical jobs might expect to be sore when they get back home, but some
will suffer serious injuries they and their family had no ability to plan for. When that
worker gets injured, he or she has a Missouri Workers’ Compensation Claim. Even with
Missouri Workers’ Compensation Benefits available to assist each worker, a serious
work injury can turn a family’s life upside down. So, what if the work injury results in
death?

After such a tragedy, while wrought with sadness, the family members of the deceased
employee are left with an overwhelming number of tasks to navigate. Many of these
things, such as a funeral, burial plot, or tombstone come with costs to these families that
are already under tremendous financial stress having just lost one of their primary
sources of income. The Employer, usually through their workers’ compensation
insurance company, should cover or offset many of these costs.

If those more immediate costs were not scary enough, the death of a father, mother,
husband, or wife upon whom you were dependent for financial support (income) to
cover your rent payments, mortgage payments, grocery bills, utility bills, and all the
other costs that come with day-to-day life and/or raising a family can leave family
members vulnerable to whatever offer the workers’ compensation insurance company
might make to them.

Do NOT allow that overwhelming sadness and financial fear that you are
understandably experiencing after the loss of a loved one you were financially
dependent on to allow the workers’ compensation insurance company to take
advantage of you.

Children whose mother or father die because of a work injury can be entitled to a
weekly payment until they turn 18-years-old or, in some cases, through their graduation
from college. A wife or husband whose spouse passes away due to a work injury can
be entitled to a weekly payment for the rest of the surviving spouse’s lifetime.
In either case, the younger the children or the spouse whose father, mother, husband,
or wife passes away, the more weeks of payments they would be entitled to. The
amount of the weekly payment depends on how much money the deceased person
earned prior to his or her date of injury.

These death benefits are owed to the dependent(s) of the deceased worker, in most
cases, EVEN IF the deceased worker was at fault or to blame for their death. What
matters is that the injury occurred within the course and scope of employment.

Where you are calculating a lifetime of benefits, trying to understand whether a lump
sum settlement might be worth taking, there are MANY variables that go into that. Do
you consider the present value of money and/or the effects of inflation? What
percentage / rate should you use? How do you determine your additional life
expectancy? How much of your additional life expectancy can you expect them to pay?
And, so on.

The other MASSIVE consideration, which could mean a difference in millions of dollars
in compensation, is whether there might be other avenues of recovery available. If the
death of your loved one was due to the fault of another, a dangerous condition, or a
dangerous or defective product (to name a few examples), you very likely have claims
in addition to workers’ compensation you need to explore.
If you have lost a loved one due to a work-related injury, you can call the experienced
attorneys at McDuffey & Medcalf, LLC. It costs nothing to meet and discuss all of what
you are entitled to.

For more information:

What is Missouri Workers Compensation Law?

Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law: What You Need to Know

Wrongful Death Attorneys – Serving All of Missouri

Workers Compensation Attorneys – Serving All Of Missouri