PRINTER'S NO. 916
No. 756 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY BROWNE, LEMMOND, RHOADES, WAUGH, STACK AND
WONDERLING, JUNE 13, 2005
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, JUNE 13, 2005
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the
2 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for
3 death action.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Section 8301(b) of Title 42 of the Pennsylvania
7 Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
8 § 8301. Death action.
9 * * *
10 (b) Beneficiaries.--
11 (1) Except as provided in subsection (d), the right of
12 action created by this section shall exist only for the
13 benefit of the spouse, children or parents of the deceased,
14 whether or not citizens or residents of this Commonwealth or
15 elsewhere. The damages recovered shall be distributed to the
16 beneficiaries in the proportion they would take the personal
17 estate of the decedent in the case of intestacy and without
18 liability to creditors of the deceased person under the
1 statutes of this Commonwealth.
2 (2) For the purposes of this section, stepchildren who
3 were dependent upon the decedent at the time of death for
4 support shall participate in the damages as though they were
5 issue of the decedent.
6 * * *
7 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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