Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2358 – Commutation of compensation
(a) Upon application of either party, and on due notice to the other, the compensation contemplated by this chapter may be commuted by the Board at its present value when discounted at 5% interest, with annual rests, disregarding, except in commuting payments due under § 2324 of this title, the probability of the beneficiary‘s death. Such commutation may be allowed if it appears that it will be for the best interest of the employee or the dependents of the deceased employee, or that it will avoid undue expense or hardship to either party, or that such employee or dependent has removed or is about to remove from the United States or that the employer has sold or otherwise disposed of the whole or the greater part of the injured employee’s or the dependents of a deceased employee’s business or assets. It shall not be allowed for the purpose of enabling the injured employee or the dependents of a deceased employee to satisfy a debt created before the accident, other than a mortgage upon the injured employee’s or the dependents of a deceased employee’s or their home or household furniture.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2358
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Board: means the Industrial Accident Board. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2301
- Employee: means every person in service of any corporation (private, public, municipal or quasi-public), association, firm or person, excepting those employees excluded by this subchapter, under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or performing services for a valuable consideration, excluding spouse and minor children of a farm employer unless the spouse or minor child is a bona fide employee of a farm employer and is named in an endorsement to the farm employer's contract of insurance, and excluding any person whose employment is casual and not in the regular course of the trade, business, profession or occupation of his or her employer, and not including persons to whom articles or materials are furnished or repaired, or adopted for sale in the worker's own home, or on the premises not under the control or management of the employer. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2301
- Employer: includes all those who employ others unless they are excluded from the application of this chapter by any provision of this subchapter, and if the employer is insured, the term shall include the insurer as far as practicable; employer shall also include the governing body for which employable relief recipients are assigned work under §§ 901-905 of Title 31. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 2301
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
(b) The Board shall not approve a proposed commutation under this section without considering information regarding the amount of attorneys’ fees and costs, if any, employee will pay in connection with the proposed commutation. The Board shall not separately approve the attorneys’ fees to be paid by the employee, but shall approve or deny the proposed commutation based upon the best interests of the employee in light of the employee’s net recovery after fees and expenses are deducted.
Code 1915, § ?3193t; 29 Del. Laws, c. 233; Code 1935, § ?6090; 19 Del. C. 1953, § ?2358; 50 Del. Laws, c. 339, § ?16; 70 Del. Laws, c. 172, § ?4; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § ?1; 76 Del. Laws, c. 1, § ?20;