For the purposes of paying the death gratuity to eligible survivors under this subpart, OWCP will use the following definitions:

(a) “Surviving spouse” means the person who was legally married to the deceased employee at the time of his or her death.

(b) “Children” means, without regard to age or marital status, the deceased employee's natural children and adopted children. It also includes any stepchildren who were a part of the decedent's household at the time of death.

(1) A stepchild will be considered part of the decedent's household if the decedent and the stepchild share the same principal place of abode in the year prior to the decedent's death. The decedent and stepchild will be considered as part of the same household notwithstanding temporary absences due to special circumstances such as illness, education, business travel, vacation travel, military service, or a written custody agreement under which the stepchild is absent from the employee's household for less than 180 days of the year.

(2) A natural child who is an illegitimate child of a male decedent is included in the definition of “children” under this subpart if:

(i) The child has been acknowledged in writing signed by the decedent;

(ii) The child has been judicially determined, before the decedent's death, to be his child;

(iii) The child has been otherwise proved, by evidence satisfactory to the employing agency, to be the decedent's child; or

(iv) The decedent had been judicially ordered to contribute to the child's support.

(c) “Parent” or “parents” mean the deceased employee's natural father and mother or father and mother through adoption. It also includes persons who stood in loco parentis to the decedent for a period of not less than one year at any time before the decedent became an employee.

(1) A person stood in loco parentis when the person assumed the status of parent toward the deceased employee. (Any person who takes a child of another into his or her home and treats the child as a member of his or her family, providing parental supervision, support, and education as if the child were his or her own child, will be considered to stand in loco parentis.)

(2) Only one father and one mother, or their counterparts in loco parentis, may be recognized in any case.

(3) Preference will be given to those who exercised a parental relationship on the date, or most nearly before the date, on which the decedent became an employee.

(d) “Brother” and “sister” mean any person, without regard to age or marital status, who is a natural brother or sister of the decedent, a half-brother or half-sister, or a brother or sister through adoption. Step-brothers or step-sisters of the decedent are not considered a “brother” or a “sister.”