When someone dies because of negligence or wrongful conduct, one of the family’s first legal questions may be: Who has the right to bring a wrongful death claim?
The answer depends on the law governing the wrongful death lawsuit. States determine who qualifies as a wrongful death beneficiary, and those rules are not identical across the country. A person’s close emotional relationship with the deceased does not necessarily mean that the person is legally entitled to recover damages.
Spouses, children, and parents are commonly protected under wrongful death statutes, but the exact rights of each family member must be determined under applicable law. In some jurisdictions, a personal representative or estate representative files the lawsuit even though the ultimate recovery is intended for designated beneficiaries.
Who Is Considered a Wrongful Death Beneficiary?
A wrongful death beneficiary is generally a person recognized by statute as having a legal right arising from another person’s wrongful death.
The qualifying relationships vary among states. A surviving spouse and children frequently have claims. Parents may also qualify, particularly when their child dies. Other relatives may have rights in some jurisdictions but not others.
Family circumstances can make the analysis more complicated. A deceased person may leave a current spouse, children from a previous marriage, adopted children, minor children, adult children, or surviving parents. Questions can also arise involving marriage status, parentage, adoption, and other family relationships.
The correct answer should come from the statute governing the case rather than assumptions about who is considered the deceased person’s closest relative.
The law governing beneficiary status can also differ from inheritance law. Someone who would inherit property from an estate is not automatically a wrongful death beneficiary, and a wrongful death recovery does not necessarily become ordinary estate property.
What Damages Can Beneficiaries Recover?
Wrongful death damages generally compensate qualifying family members for losses they suffered because of the death. The available categories depend upon state law and the claimant’s relationship with the deceased person.
Financial losses can include support the deceased person would probably have provided. The analysis may consider income, employment benefits, household services, childcare, and other economic contributions.
Personal losses can be equally important. A child may lose parental care, advice, guidance, and companionship. A spouse can lose companionship and the benefits of a marital relationship. Parents may experience the permanent loss of their relationship with a child.
A spouse’s particular relational losses may also raise issues discussed on our loss of consortium page.
The damages of one beneficiary do not automatically determine another beneficiary’s damages. Each person’s relationship with the deceased and legally recognized losses may need to be evaluated separately.
Do All Beneficiaries Receive Equal Amounts?
Not necessarily. A wrongful death recovery is not always divided equally among everyone legally entitled to participate.
Consider a deceased parent who leaves a spouse, a young child living at home, and an independent adult child. Each person may qualify under applicable law, but their financial dependence, relationship, and individual losses can be very different.
The law governing the claim and the facts of the family relationships can affect allocation. In some cases, beneficiaries may agree on how settlement proceeds should be distributed. Other cases can require court involvement, particularly when minors are beneficiaries or when family members disagree.
Our discussion of who decides how to divide wrongful death money addresses these allocation questions in greater detail.
Potential conflicts should be identified before a settlement is finalized. When one lawyer represents several family members, differences in their legal or financial interests may need careful attention.
Beneficiaries and the Estate Are Not Always the Same
Wrongful death claims and survival claims can arise from the same fatal accident, but they generally represent different legal interests.
Wrongful death claims focus on losses suffered by designated beneficiaries. A survival action generally preserves certain claims belonging to the deceased person before death.
This distinction matters because money recovered through a survival action may pass through the estate under applicable law, while wrongful death proceeds may belong directly to designated statutory beneficiaries.
Families can therefore encounter two different questions: Who qualifies as a wrongful death beneficiary, and who is entitled to receive property distributed through the deceased person’s estate? The answers are not necessarily identical.
Understanding this distinction can become particularly important when a settlement includes both wrongful death and survival damages.
Determining Who Has Legal Rights After a Wrongful Death
Families should not assume that every relative has the same legal rights after a preventable death. Beneficiary status is a legal question governed by the applicable wrongful death statute.
Determining those rights early can help avoid confusion later in the case. It can also identify family members who should participate in important decisions concerning investigation, litigation, settlement, and distribution.
An experienced wrongful death lawyer can determine which law governs the claim, identify the eligible beneficiaries, investigate the circumstances of the death, and evaluate the losses suffered by each person legally entitled to recover.
The death of a family member affects many people emotionally. Wrongful death law has the narrower task of determining which people possess legally enforceable claims and what damages they may pursue through the civil justice system.
