ABATEMENT
Where the widow died leaving no surviving beneficiaries after the Board had granted the Department's petition for review from a proposed decision and order granting the widow a pension, but before the Board had issued its decision and order, the widow's accrued pension benefits were not payable to her estate. ....Johanna Hoerner, Dec'd., 70,575 (1986) [Editor's Note: Consider the affect of 1999 Legislative changes to RCW 51.52.040 which make accrued benefits payable to the estate. The Board's decision was appealed to superior court under Benton County Cause No. 86-2-00646-7.]
Where the worker died leaving no surviving beneficiaries after the proposed decision and order granting him a pension had been issued, but before it had been adopted by the Board, the worker's accrued pension benefits were not payable to his estate. ....Leo Gilmore, Dec'd., 57,759 (1981) [Editor's Note: Consider the affect of 1999 Legislative changes to RCW 51.52.040 which make accrued benefits payable to the estate.]
At the time of the worker's death no specific disability rating had been communicated to the Department but all the evidence necessary to rate disability was available through the attending physician, who had found the worker's condition fixed and ratable prior to the worker's death. The Department should have secured such evidence and, if disability was found, paid the award therefor to the surviving beneficiary. ....Bernard Nickolai, Dec'd., 38,266 (1971)