A child under the age of 18, or a child of any age found by any trier of fact to be physically or mentally incapacitated from earning shall be ______ to be wholly dependent for support upon a deceased employee.

• A. Concurrently dependent
• B. Wholly dependent
• C. Partially dependent
• D. Not dependent

Answer: (B)

In California workers’ compensation death benefits, a child under 18, or any age child who is physically or mentally incapacitated from earning, is treated as wholly dependent for support on the deceased employee. This means the child is considered to rely entirely on the employee for support, which determines eligibility for dependent benefits. The other categories don’t apply here because they describe situations where there is some ability to contribute or no dependency at all, whereas this rule creates a presumption of total dependence for the specified child. So the correct interpretation is that the child is wholly dependent for support.