Australian Capital Territory Current Acts Australian Capital Territory Current Acts(1) In an action under this part, the court may award, to the people for whose benefit the action is brought (the beneficiaries ), the damages that it considers to be proportional to the damage to them resulting from the death.
(2) Subsection (1) has effect subject to part 7.1 (Damages for personal injuries—exclusions and limitations).
(3) The amount of damages awarded must, after deducting the costs not recovered from the defendant, be divided between the beneficiaries in the shares the court decides.
(4) The damages may include an amount to compensate for any of the following expenses paid or payable by a beneficiary:
(a) reasonable funeral expenses;
(b) reasonable medical or hospital expenses related to the injury that resulted in the death.
(5) An amount to compensate for any reasonable funeral expenses may be reduced to the extent (if any) that the court considers just and equitable having regard to the age or health of the dead person immediately before the wrongful act or omission that caused the death.
(6) In deciding whether an expense is reasonable for subsection (4) (a), regard must be had to the religious and cultural circumstances of the dead person and the members of the dead person's family.