"Beneficiary" means a husband, wife, child, or dependent of a worker in whom shall vest a right to receive payment under this title: PROVIDED, That a husband or wife of an injured worker, living separate and apart in a state of abandonment, regardless of the party responsible therefor, for more than one year at the time of the injury or subsequently, shall not be a beneficiary. A spouse who has lived separate and apart from the other spouse for the period of two years and who has not, during that time, received, or attempted by process of law to collect, funds for maintenance, shall be deemed living in a state of abandonment.
RCW 51.08.020
"Beneficiary."
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case 125 Wash. 2d 533 - Marley v. Department of Labor & Industries (1994)
Most recently applied in 333 Or. App. 751 - YRC Worldwide, Inc. v. Corrigan (July 2024)
1977 ex.s. c 350 s 10; 1973 1st ex.s. c 154 s 91; 1961 c 23 s 51.08.020
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.