Benefits due and payable to a deceased or judicially declared incompetent person shall be paid, in accordance with regulations adopted by the department, to persons in the following order: spouse, child, parent, sister or brother, aunt or uncle, payment to whom the department finds will best carry out the purposes of this chapter. The regulations need not conform to the statutes applicable to the descent and distribution of decedents' estates. A receipt from the person to whom the department makes payment fully discharges the fund and the department from liability for the benefits.