Many people are familiar with workers’ compensation benefits as they relate to on-the-job injuries, conditions, or diseases. But fewer people know that the families of workers who die because of a work-related injury or illness are also eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. In both Missouri and Illinois, the immediate family members and dependants of workers who lose their lives in a work accident or due to a work condition can file a claim for workers’ compensation survivor benefits and receive support.

While no amount of money will ever replace a survivor’s spouse or parent, workers’ compensation survivor benefits can help support a worker’s family after he or she is no longer able to provide. Especially in the early months and years after a death in the family, it can be difficult to make ends meet, pay bills, and keep your home without the support you once had.

In Missouri, any total dependent of the deceased worker is entitled to survivor benefits. In most cases, a total dependent is a spouse, any child under the age of 18, or older disabled children that are unable to work. Spouses may receive survivor benefits for the rest of their lives or until they remarried. Spouses who choose to remarry will receive two years of benefits at the time of the marriage. Survivor benefits for dependent children continue until they are 18 or until 22 if they are attending college. If there are no total dependents, and you were partially depended on the worker who was killed, you may file a claim as a partial dependant and receive partial benefits. 

If your Missouri workers’ compensation survivor benefits claim has been wrongfully denied or reduced, talk to a MO workers’ comp attorney today to discuss your case.