NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1965 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 419

HOUSE BILL 461

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND G.S. 97-40 AS IT RELATES TO COMPENSATION FOR DEATH IN THE ABSENCE OF DEPENDENTS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 97-40, as the same appears in the 1965 Replacement Volume 2D of the North Carolina General Statutes, is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"§ 97-40.  Commutation of Benefit and Payment on Absence of Dependents. Subject to the provisions of G.S. 97-38, if the deceased employee leaves neither whole nor partial dependents, then the compensation which would be payable under G.S. 97-38 to whole dependents shall be commuted to its present value and paid in a lump sum to the next of kin as herein defined. For purposes of this Section and G.S. 97-38, 'next of kin' shall include only child, father, mother, brother or sister of the deceased employee. For all such next of kin who are neither wholly nor partially dependent upon the deceased employee and who take under this Section, the order of priority among them shall be governed by the general law applicable to the distribution of the personal estate of persons dying intestate. For all such next of kin who were also partially dependent on the deceased employee but who exercise the election provided for partial dependents by G.S. 97-38, the general law applicable to the distribution of the personal estate of persons dying intestate shall not apply and such person or persons upon the exercise of such election, shall be entitled, share and share alike, to the compensation provided in G.S. 97-38 for whole dependents commuted to its present value and paid in a lump sum.

"If the deceased employee leaves neither whole dependents, partial dependents, nor next of kin as hereinabove defined, then no compensation shall be due or payable on account of the death of the deceased employee, except that the employer shall pay or cause to be paid the burial expenses of the deceased employee not exceeding four hundred dollars ($400.00) to the person or persons entitled thereto."

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 5th day of May, 1965.