What are the Legal Implications of the Death of a Grandmother

Firstly, the body needs to be buried/cremated.

Secondly, you need to check whether they have a Will.  If they have a Will you would normally expect that they would make provision to leave their estate to their husband or if their husband has pre-deceased them, to their children.  Sometimes grandmothers make gifts in Wills to grandchildren. Sometimes they may make a Will where they leave their grandchildren “all of their love”.

If a grandmother dies as a result of natural causes/old age this is sad.  If a grandmother dies as a result of a motor vehicle accident or medical misadventure this is a disaster.  Grandmothers provide services for husbands, children and grandchildren that no amount of money can replace.

If a grandmother dies as a result of a motor vehicle accident, medical misadventure or some wrongful act or omission, then Section 64 of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld) provides that a claim can be made for the benefit of members of the deceased person’s family.

Proceedings may be brought by the personal representative of the deceased person or by one or more members of the deceased person’s family who have suffered damages because of the death.

Grandmothers, even if they are not working fulltime, provide services to their husbands with respect to shopping, meal preparation, cooking, washing, ironing, cleaning and gardening.  Grandmothers provide assistance to their children with respect to child minding and housekeeping.

In the event of the death of a grandmother a claim may be made for the loss of these domestic services provided to the husband and or grandchildren.

The value of the claim will depend upon the age and health of the grandmother, the likely period during which she would have provided the services and the number of hours involved in providing the services.

A reasonable indicative rate for domestic services in June 2021 was $32.00 per hour in Queensland 1/40^th of the average weekly earnings – Queensland.

A reasonable indicative rate for childcare in June 2021 was $25.00 per hour.

Some grandmothers can work up to 35 hours per week supporting their husbands and another 25 hours per week supporting their children and grandchildren.  To work 60 hours per week is considerably more than the work performed by men and women working 12.5 hour days in the coal mining industry who on average work 43.75 hours per week.

Although any compensation received may provide some relief to a husband or children or grandchildren following the death of a grandmother, the compensation will only be a fraction of the true value of having a living wife, mother and grandmother.