Today we have a guest post from our colleague Brody Ockander of Nebraska.

If a worker dies from a work accident or occupational disease, his surviving family members are entitled to death benefits under Nebraska workers’’ compensation.

However, proving the death was work-related is sometimes complicated in situations where there is not a clear accident. For example, there are no death benefits for a worker who dies at work from natural causes simply because he died at work. Instead, it must be shown that work or something that happened at work somehow played a role in the death.

If your spouse dies due to a work-related injury or illness, you are entitled to workers'' compensation benefits.

In situations that are not necessarily clear, especially when the insurance company tries to blame the death on some other reason or on natural causes, you will probably want to get a lawyer to help establish how the work or work exposure caused the death of your loved one. If you are able to show that the work contributed to the death, the worker’s family may be entitled to the following benefits:

Benefits for the surviving spouse:
If it can be established that work caused the death, the worker’s surviving spouse is entitled to workers’’ compensation benefits every week at 2/3 of the worker’s average weekly wage at the time of death. This potentially lasts for the spouse’s life or until remarriage. If the spouse later remarries, then he/she is entitled to a lump sum payment for two years of benefits.

Benefits for surviving spouse with children:
If the deceased worker had dependent children and a spouse at the time of death, the surviving spouse is entitled to 60% of the worker’s average weekly wage plus 15% for each child. If the children don’t live with the surviving spouse, the spouse is entitled to 55% of the average weekly wage.

Benefits for dependent children:
If the worker is survived by dependent children, work comp benefits are paid to those children (in equal share) for their dependency or until age 19 (or age 25 if full-time student or the child is physically or mentally incapable of self-support).

Benefits for other family members:
There may also be benefits available for parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and grandchildren if it can be shown that they were dependents of the deceased worker. If dependency can be established, these types of dependents would be entitled to 25%.

Funeral Expenses:
The employer is responsible for funeral and burial expenses up to $6,000 whether or not the deceased worker had a spouse or any dependents. This was recently raised to $10,000 by the Nebraska Legislature in 2012.