Navigating Death Benefits: Who Claims When a Nominee Remarries?

A person working in a private company died (suicide) in 2015. His nominee was his wife. The death claim (PF, company insured amount, etc.) has not been settled yet, and the corporate benefits have still not been received by the nominee.

Now his wife has remarried. In this case, who will receive the benefits - the wife or the mother? Also, would an NoC be required from the wife if the mother claims the amount?

Guidance on Compensation Matters

For any compensation matters, the guiding factor is the Workmen's Compensation Act, now renamed as the Employees Compensation Act. For any death claim of an employee, while deciding shares of nominees, there are clear-cut guidance and judgments one should follow.

Distribution of Shares

In this case, the first share goes to the wife naturally. At the same time, if the deceased has young dependent children, a dependent parent (mother or father), unmarried or widowed sisters, or dependent handicapped brothers or sisters, they would have shares in the given compensation. In this case, the wife is the natural nominee, but the deceased has a dependent mother also. So, his dependent mother gets a share undoubtedly, irrespective of the consent of the wife of the deceased son.

The wife of the deceased employee, though she has remarried, would be eligible to get her share along with the living dependent mother. In all likelihood, such a share would be divided equally between the wife and mother.

With due respect to you, sir, I would like to raise queries to update myself as follows:

When an employee dies as a result of suicide, how does the Employee Compensation Act come into the picture?

You mentioned that there are clear-cut guidance and judgments regarding any death claim of the employee when deciding shares of the nominees. Could you please provide the same or give a reference?

Since his wife has remarried, she has ceased to be the legal heir of the deceased. If the deceased has children and dependent parents, they have to file a claim before the Honorable Magistrate Court and obtain a legal heirship certificate for the claim of the unpaid amount to the deceased.

Date of Death and Nominee Issues

In this particular case, a pertinent point is the Date of Death, which is 2015 as per Mr. Biswanath. We are in August 2018. Remarriage is presumed after 2015. The nominee was his wife. The death claim (PF, company-insured amount, etc.) has not yet been settled, and corporate benefits have not been received by the nominee. Why has the employer not processed the relevant claims to date?

Impact of Remarriage on Benefits

Will the remarriage of the nominee (except EPS Pension from the remarriage date) affect the receipt of due benefits? Does this somehow imply that a nominee must remain a widow for her lifetime in order to claim dues?

Yes, very nice of you both, sir. Let me clarify—I referred to the Bhagavad Gita as the W.C. Act (now the EC Act). The query raised is about the disbursement of EPF and ESI-related amounts, not about the company's insurance payment under the W.C. Act before a quasi-judicial authority.

For the final release or ultimate claim of EPF or ESI, the account holder's demise, i.e., the employee's death, is sufficient. The reason for the employee's death should have no effect on both ESI and EPF final withdrawals.

Moreover, for claim amount disbursement, W.C. Act eligibilities are usually followed by the two departments. Even if she remarries, it won't be a disability. As for some held judgments, I will try to put them up soon as I am very busy until the end of the month.

A family member certificate issued by RMandal revenue officer or Tahsildar is enough; not necessary from the court of law. If and when there is a demand for a share between two wives legally and in other ways, both should go to court to determine who is the legal beneficiary. In a general case like the one mentioned above, the wife and mother both have legal shares as dependents.

If a wife remarries, she loses her claim to the pension or other benefits that accrue to her upon the death of her husband. This rule is very clear. Even in the annual declaration from the pensioner, it is mentioned that the female has not remarried after the death of her husband and is not employed anywhere.

Dear Friend,

Employment by EPS Pensioner will not be a bar for claiming EPS Pension. Please peruse the attachment with reference to your statement "she is not employed anywhere....".

I respect your feelings, but I feel we are here to discuss the law and not to discuss the practices or what should be the law. In fact, I had decided not to contribute any more here, but since I received a private message on my wall by the poster, I changed my mind. The poster stated that the deceased has minor children. How many, that is not written.

Questions regarding dues payable by the employer

The questions here are:
1. What are the dues payable by the employer in this case?
2. Whether the widow of the deceased, who is now remarried, is entitled to get these dues?

According to me, the following are the legal dues payable by the employer:
1. The unpaid salary and other payments, if any, including leave encashment.
2. Payment of bonus, if payable per the Act or as per the practice without any discrimination.
3. Payment of Gratuity.

This payment is to be made to the nominee of the deceased in record. In the absence of a nominee, the employer can choose to pay these dues to any of the members of his family or ask the members to submit a succession certificate from the court. The court, while granting the succession certificate, will take care of the minor children of the deceased.

It is advisable by the HR person, in the interest of the employer, to ask for a succession certificate. There is no guarantee in every case that in the future no issue will crop up regarding this payment. I have seen and handled this kind of issues. In the given case, today the widow of the deceased is ready to give in writing to the company that she has no claim over the dues of her deceased husband, but in the future, if she changes her mind, then what? Can the shelter of the letter by the widow help legally?

Dues payable by EPFO

There are other dues payable by EPFO as under:
1. EPF accumulation in the account of the deceased and Insurance Fund (if applicable) to the nominee(s) as per Form 2. If Form 2 is not obtained, then EPFO will settle the dues as per the succession certificate only. If the deceased has not changed his nomination in Form 2 after his marriage, then as per the ruling of the Supreme Court, his widow is eligible to get EPF dues. But in the given case, the widow is married now, and therefore she will not be paid the PF dues by EPFO in my view, and the EPFO will definitely ask for a succession certificate.
2. EPS widow pension is payable to the widow only. Since the widow is now married, she is not entitled to the pension as per the law. However, the minor children of the deceased, subject to a maximum of two, are eligible for a monthly pension.

In my view, the nominee is the receiver of the money or the benefit, and he is not getting the ownership or legal heirship. On receipt of the money or the benefit by the nominee, disbursement has to be made as per the succession law, in case there is an issue on it by any of the family members.