Smith v. Allied Exterminators, Inc.

VAUGHN, Judge.

Appellants’ position on this appeal is that the mother of the deceased should have received no more than one-half the amount which she did receive. Appellant arrives at that conclusion by the following reasoning. G.S. 97-40 provides that if the deceased leaves no whole or partial dependents, then the compensation is to be commuted to its present value and paid to the next of kin, and the order of priority among the next of kin “shall be governed by the general law applicable to the distribution of the personal estate of persons dying intestate.” The applicable provision of the…