---
title: "Dependency calculation after a wrongful death"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/dependency-calculation"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a21-dependency-calculation"
area_id: "A21"
kind: "court-document"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A21-T1-R3", "A21-A20260923-2"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-23"
---

# Dependency calculation after a wrongful death

> A calculation of each dependant's loss of financial support after a wrongful death, with the classes of claimant in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, and the funeral head where the statute provides for it.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/dependency-calculation  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-23

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Court document. A document filed or served in a court or tribunal.
- Practice area: [Personal Injury & Compensation](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation.md)
- Jurisdictions: Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-23
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-23 against the 5 authorities it cites, for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

## When to use it

Use when a plaintiff firm calculates loss of financial support for the family of a person killed by a wrongful act. One proceeding is brought for all of them. Do not use this for a solatium or a grief payment unless the lawyer has opened a section that allows it.

## Used for these tasks

- [Prepare a damages or statutory-entitlements schedule](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/prepare-a-damages-or-statutory-entitlements-schedule.md)
- [Draft a letter of demand or particulars of injury from the schedule](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/draft-a-letter-of-demand-or-particulars-of-injury-from-the-schedule.md)

## How AI may be used

The tool may set out each dependant's share of the deceased's net support from the financial records the lawyer accepts, and it must not decide who is a dependant or the percentage of dependency.

**AI may:**

- Build a table of household income, the deceased's net earnings, and the amount the lawyer says was applied to each dependant
- Apply the percentage of dependency and the contingencies the lawyer has written, and show the multiplication
- List funeral invoices separately from loss of support

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide that a person is a spouse, a child or a dependant
- Must not award a sum for grief, solatium or loss of companionship
- Must not deduct a payment that s 3(3) of the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 (NSW), or the equivalent provision the lawyer names, says is not to be taken into account
- Must not start a second proceeding for the same death

**The lawyer checks:**

- Match each claimant to the class in the Act that governs this death, using the definitions opened below
- Confirm the death would have entitled the deceased to sue, which is the condition in Wrongs Act s 16, Civil Proceedings Act s 64 and Compensation to Relatives Act s 3
- Apply the earnings cap that covers loss of expectation of financial support or a dependency claim, where that cap applies
- If a claimant is a child or under a legal incapacity, check the approval and funds-management step before a share is agreed. Queensland s 64(4) allows the damages for a person under a legal incapacity to include management fees

## Authorities

- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 16 (liability for death caused wrongfully) and s 17 (action for the benefit of dependants)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s17.html)
- [Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld) s 62 (definitions), s 63 (spouse), s 64 (liability for a death) and s 65 (one proceeding)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cpa2011175/s64.html)
- [Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 (NSW) s 3 and s 4](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ctra1897288/s3.html)
- [Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 54 (earnings limit, including in a dependency claim)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cla2003161/s54.html)
- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) s 28F(1)(c) and (2) (loss of expectation of financial support)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s28f.html)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/dependency-calculation and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*