Missouri: Appeals Court Construes “Remarriage” Penalty for Death Benefits Claims

Indicating that the case was one of first impression, a Missouri appellate court recently held that the commutation of death benefits for a surviving spouse who remarries after the award is to be computed using the “plain language” of the statute, 287.240(4)(a) R.S. Mo. and accordingly is equal to 104 times the sum of the benefits paid not only to the surviving spouse, but also to the deceased employee’s dependent children.  The employer had argued that computation of the surviving spouse’s “remarriage” benefit should be limited to those benefits the spouse would receive in two years.

Reported by Thomas A. Robinson, J.D.

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See Ash v. Millennium Restoration & Constr., 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1005 (Aug. 27, 2013) [2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1005 (Aug. 27, 2013)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 98.04 [98.04]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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