Delaware Line of Duty Death Benefit for National Guard Members

Delaware's public safety death benefit in Title 18, chapter 66 covers National Guard members as well as police, firefighters and others. Who is covered. Section 6601, paragraph (2)b.: "National guardmembers on state duty pursuant to subchapter V of Chapter 1 of Title 20, and National Guard members activated for federal service under Title 10 of the United States Code". So a Delaware Guard member who dies on a federal deployment is covered, not only one who dies responding to a Delaware emergency. How much. Section 6602, subsection (a), paragraph (1): for claims submitted on or after July 1, 2023, "$375,000, payable in annual installments with the maximum amount payable in any 1 calendar year being $50,000". It was $200,000 in $40,000 installments for claims from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2023. The federal Army benefits library still prints $200,000 in $40,000 installments; that figure is three years out of date. The increase came from 84 Delaware Laws chapter 406. Tuition. Paragraph (2): up to four years of tuition for each dependent child enrolled in a degree or certificate program, paid directly to the college. Dependent children include stepchildren, adopted children and children to whom the member stood in place of a parent, if they lived in the household. Health insurance. Paragraph (5): health insurance for dependent children until 26, for deaths after January 1, 2004. Where TRICARE or another federal program covers the child, state coverage applies only if that coverage is lost. When no beneficiary takes the main benefit. For a Guard member, paragraph (3) pays $25,000 to living parents in $5,000 installments if the main benefit has not been paid, and paragraph (4) pays up to $5,000 to the estate for burial if neither applies. What counts as the line of duty. A death while on active duty creates a rebuttable presumption that it was in the line of duty, with the burden on the employer to prove otherwise. The chapter excludes death from natural causes, except heart attack, stroke or vascular rupture within 24 hours after non-routine strenuous duty; accidental death travelling to and from work outside emergencies; death from disobeying orders; and suicide. There is no time limit on filing. Claims go to the Insurance Commissioner. Title 20, section 182 separately gives workers compensation rates for a Guard member injured in state service and a pension to the spouse or next of kin of one killed in it.