Question: There’s a fund to pay people who lost family members in the Maui fires, if they don’t sue. My questions: If a parent died, do all their children have to agree, or could one heir disagree and be left out of the settlement? Also, is this only for U.S. citizens?
Answer: You are referring to the Maui Wildfires Compensation Program, known as the One ‘Ohana Fund, funded by utilities, landowners, the state and Maui County to settle claims filed by families whose relatives died in the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires, and by fire survivors whose serious physical injuries required emergency medical treatment within three days of the fires.
To receive a $1.5 million set payment for the death of a family member, all eligible claimants in the family must agree to the settlement, according to www.mauicompensationfund.com, the program’s website. So the answer to your first two questions are yes and no, respectively.
This scenario is covered on the website, in answer to a question asking “what if family members of the deceased individual disagree on whether to file a claim?” The website’s answer is that “one of the conditions for receiving compensation is that all family members with their own potential claims arising from the victim’s death agree to release their claims against the Fund’s contributors. Consequently, family members eligible for compensation should reach consensus in advance of filing a claim.”
Some families lost more than one family member in the fire, and the death of each would be treated separately, the website says. A family could settle through the fund in the death of one family member, and eschew the fund in the death of another, leaving open the possibility of a lawsuit(s) in that separate case.
As for your third question, no, claims paid by this fund are not limited to U.S. citizens. “Foreign Claimants and undocumented workers and/or their families (in the case of a deceased individual) who meet the eligibility requirements are considered Eligible Claimants for compensation from the MWCP,” according to the fund’s protocol, which is posted on the website.
To answer another reader’s question, individual payments for physical injuries will vary, but none will exceed $1.5 million, the website says.
The deadline to register for this fund, which addresses only deaths and serious physical injuries, has been extended again, to June 15, according to a news release Wednesday from the governor’s office. For more information, see the aforementioned website.
Wind-whipped wildfires devastated the Valley Isle in August, destroying much of Lahaina, in West Maui, where 101 people were confirmed killed, and burning upcountry homes in and around Kula as well.
Q: I file my taxes online now so I didn’t think about changing my physical address with the IRS when I moved. How do I do that?
A: To change a home mailing address with the IRS, complete Form 8822, Change of Address, and mail it to the address listed on the form that applies to your situation. Hawaii filers relocating within the state would change the address for their individual income tax returns by mailing the completed form to an IRS address in Ogden, Utah, for example. For more information see irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8822.
Mahalo
This is a belated mahalo but I want to thank the several persons who helped me very much when my car stalled during heavy rain a few weeks ago due to the ponding on Kapiolani Boulevard. This was a dangerous situation in the pouring rain and they pushed my car out of the way. Mahalo.— A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
