1. A person is conclusively presumed to be totally dependent upon an injured or deceased employee if:

(a) The person is a natural, posthumous or adopted child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, under the age of 18 years; or

(b) The person is a natural, posthumous or adopted child, there is no surviving parent and the person is:

(1) Over the age of 18 years and physically or mentally incapacitated from wage earning; or

(2) Over the age of 18 years but under the age of 22 years and enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited vocational or educational institution.

2. Stepparents may be regarded in chapters 616A to 616D, inclusive, or chapter 617 of NRS as parents if the fact of dependency is shown, and a stepchild or stepchildren may be regarded in chapters 616A to 616D, inclusive, or chapter 617 of NRS as a natural child or children if the existence and fact of dependency are shown.

3. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 13 of NRS 616C.505, questions as to who constitute dependents and the extent of their dependency must be determined as of the date of the accident or injury to the employee, and their right to any benefit becomes fixed at that time, irrespective of any subsequent change in conditions, and the benefits are directly recoverable by and payable to the dependent or dependents entitled thereto or to their legal guardians or trustees.

4. The presumptions of this section do not apply in favor of aliens who are nonresidents of the United States at the time of the accident, injury to, or death of the employee.

[24:168:1947; 1943 NCL § 2680.24] — (NRS A 1971, 321; 1975, 598; 1985, 1460; 1993, 733; 1999, 219; 2007, 3346; 2009, 3072)