Deeming provisions - dependency
Section 4 of the SRC Act includes two qualifications (in death cases only) to the general requirement to take only economic issues into account when assessing dependency:
- s 4(4) deems a person to be wholly or partly dependent on a client if the person would have been so dependent but for an incapacity of the client that resulted from a compensable injury;
- s 4(5) deems a spouse, or a child of a client (being also a prescribed child), to be wholly dependent on the client if they lived with the client at the time of their death.
As a matter of policy and consistency of approach, these deeming provisions are also extended to incapacity cases under s 19.
"child" of the client – s 4(5)(b)
A “child" of a client includes a natural or an adopted child of the client, but does not include a step-child, ie. a spouse's child by another parent. Accordingly, a step-child cannot be deemed as fully dependent on the client. A step-child may, however, be either a prescribed child or a prescribed person and be dependent on the client on the facts of the case.
As a matter of consistency with the definition of “spouse” in the SRC Act, a “child" of a client should include a person who is recognised as a child of the client by the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander custom prevailing in the tribe or group to which the client belongs.