- (a) If a compensable death occurs and the deceased employee has no legal beneficiaries or if a claim for death benefits is not made in a timely manner, the insurance carrier shall pay to the administrator of the subsequent injury fund an amount equal to 364 weeks of death benefits for deposit in the fund.
- (b) The payment required by subsection (a) of this section shall be paid by the insurance carrier, in a lump sum, on the first payment due date after the date that the order was provided by the commission to the insurance carrier's representative, which finds that the deceased employee had no legal beneficiaries or that no timely claims for death benefits had been made.
- (c) The order to pay benefits to the subsequent injury fund shall specify the amount that the carrier shall pay to the fund. The amount of a commuted payment shall be discounted at the rate established under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act, §1.04, compounded annually.
- (d) If, after the insurance carrier has paid the death benefits to the subsequent injury fund, a final award of the commission or the final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction determines that a legal beneficiary is entitled to the death benefits, the insurance carrier shall pay benefits in accordance with award or order and request reimbursement for the amount overpaid to the fund. The request shall be in writing and accompanied by a certified copy of the final award or final judgment.
- (e) The commission shall order the fund to reimburse the insurance carrier when the documentation shows that the conditions set out in subsection (d) of this section, and the Act, §2.26(d), have been met. The order shall specify the amount to be paid by the subsequent injury fund to the insurance carrier.
- (f) If no claims for death benefits is filed with the commission on or before the first anniversary of the death of the employee, it shall be presumed, for the purpose of this rule and the Act, §2.26, only, that no legal beneficiary survived the deceased employee.
- (g) The presumption created under subsection (f) of this section does not apply against a minor beneficiary, or an incompetent beneficiary for whom no guardian has been appointed.
Source Note:The provisions of this §132.10 adopted to be effective January 1, 1991, 15 TexReg 7023.