S.C. Code Regs. § 47-26 - Payment of Benefits to a Deceased Claimant

A. Pursuant to the authority of Section 41-35-30 of the South Carolina Employment Security Law and in order to provide for the payment of benefits in those cases where the claimant has filed a valid claim and has compensation payable to him for weeks of unemployment and who dies prior to receiving such compensation, the Department adopts the following regulation:

1. If there is an executor or administrator appointed within sixty (60) days, payment must be made to said executor or administrator.

2. If there is no executor or administrator appointed within sixty (60) days, payment may be made upon written application as hereinafter set out:

a. To the surviving wife or husband; and if there be none

b. To the minor children; and if there be none

c. To the adult children; and if there be none

d. To parents of the deceased; and if there be none

e. To any person or persons who were dependent upon the deceased; and if there be no person within the foregoing classification, said payment to the deceased shall lapse and revert into the unemployment trust fund.

3. In the event payment is made to minor children as provided in Sub-Item A.2.b of this Regulation, the payments may be made to any responsible adult with whom minor children are making their home, upon a written pledge to use said payment for the benefit of the said minors, will be considered proper and legal payment to the said minor children without the requirement of formal appointment of a guardian.

B. Written application for payment of such benefits must be made within six months after the death of the decedent, provided that the Department upon good cause shown may extend the time for filing application.

C. Such application must be made in the form of an affidavit, in which the affiant sets forth his relationship to the deceased, and the reasons he is eligible for precedence.

D. Such affidavit should be supported by a copy of the death certificate of the deceased claimant, and an affidavit of an uninterested party that he knows or is informed and believes that the information given by the first affiant is true and correct.

E. The burden of initiating a claim for compensation due and payable to a deceased claimant and of proving identity and the right to payment shall rest upon the individual making such application.

F. All benefits issued directly to the deceased shall be returned to the Department for cancellation before any funds shall be paid in lieu of such benefits. Provided, however, that where such benefits cannot be obtained that an explanation to the satisfaction of the Department is in order.

G. Upon the return of such benefits for cancellation in satisfaction of the requirements of those regulations, payment may be made to the proper party with notation thereon of claimant's name and Social Security Number.

H. Payments made in accordance with this regulation shall for all purposes be deemed to have been made to all persons equitably entitled thereto.

Notes

S.C. Code Regs. § 47-26

Amended by State Register Volume 24, Issue No. 5, eff May 26, 2000.