Death benefits are awarded to family members of an employee who died due to a work-related injury. The amount of death benefits you can receive depends on if you qualify as a total or partial dependent and the amount of support that the family member provided you before their death. To be considered a total dependent, you must have relied on the deceased employee for support. Typically, total dependents are children of the deceased employee who are under the age of 18. A spouse can be considered a total dependent if, in the last year, they earned $30,000 or less.