§ 8.4 Importance of Date of Accident in Determining Eligibility and Benefits Payable.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 8.4 Importance of Date of Accident in Determining Eligibility and Benefits Payable.

Until 1994 Arizona's courts held that it was the date of the employee's injury or accident and not the date of death that determined questions of eligibility and amounts payable. Thus, a spouse who married the deceased employee after the employee's industrial accident, or a child who was conceived after the accident, was not eligible for death compensation benefits.¹ In 1994, the supreme court overruled its earlier decisions and held that statutory dependency under A.R.S. §§ 23-1046 and -1064 is determined at the time of death rather than at the time of the accident or injury, so that a spouse who has not abandoned the deceased worker at the time of the workers'...