Queensland Consolidated Acts Queensland Consolidated Acts(1) Every such action shall be for the benefit of the spouse, parent and child of the person whose death shall have been so caused and shall be brought by and in the name of the executor or administrator of the person deceased and in every such action the court may give such damages as the court may think proportioned to the injury resulting from such death to the parties respectively for whom and for whose benefit such action shall be brought and the amount so recovered after deducting the costs not recovered from the defendant shall be divided amongst the before mentioned parties in such shares as the court shall find and direct.
(2) For subsection (1), the spouse of a deceased person includes a de facto partner of the deceased only if the deceased and the de facto partner lived together as a couple on a genuine domestic basis within the meaning of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 32DA—
(a) generally—
(i) for a continuous period of at least 2 years ending on the deceased's death; or
(ii) for a shorter period ending on the deceased's death, if the circumstances of the de facto relationship of the deceased and the de facto partner evidenced a clear intention that the relationship be a long term, committed relationship; or
(b) if the deceased left a dependant who is a child of the relationship—immediately before the deceased's death.
(3) Subsection (2) applies despite the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 32DA(6).
(4) In this section—
child of the relationship means a child of the deceased person and the de facto partner, and includes a child born after the death.
dependant, of a deceased person, includes a child born after the death happens who would have been wholly or partially dependant on the deceased person's earnings after the child's birth if the person had not died.