Wrongful Death Lawyers

There is no useful thing to say about losing someone this way. What we can do is take the parts that have deadlines and procedures and paperwork, and handle them, so that your family is not managing an insurance claim in the middle of grief.

A wrongful death claim in Florida is not a lawsuit that any family member simply files. The statute defines who may bring it, who may recover, and what may be recovered, and it works differently from the claim the person would have had if they had survived. Getting the structure right at the outset matters, because it determines the entire course of the case.

A wrongful death action in Florida is brought by the personal representative of the decedent's estate. Individual family members do not file their own separate suits. The personal representative brings one action, on behalf of the estate and on behalf of everyone the statute recognizes as a survivor, which is why opening the estate and having a personal representative appointed is usually the first practical step.

The statute defines survivors as the decedent's spouse, children and parents, together with any blood relative or adoptive sibling who was partly or wholly dependent on the decedent for support or services. For certain categories of damages the statute distinguishes minor children, defined as children under 25 regardless of the age of majority, from adult children.

Who qualifies as a survivor determines what the claim can seek, so it is established at the outset rather than discovered partway through.

Damages are allocated between the survivors and the estate, and the categories differ.

Survivors may recover the value of support and services lost from the date of injury, with interest, and the value of future loss of support and services. A surviving spouse may recover loss of the decedent's companionship and protection, and mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. Minor children may recover lost parental companionship, instruction and guidance, and mental pain and suffering, and all children may recover these if there is no surviving spouse. Parents of a deceased minor child may recover mental pain and suffering from the date of injury, and parents of an adult child may do so in defined circumstances. A survivor who paid medical or funeral expenses may recover those.

The estate may recover lost earnings from the date of injury to the date of death, with interest, the loss of net accumulations the estate could reasonably have expected had the decedent lived, and medical and funeral expenses charged against the estate.

There are limitations, and one is significant enough that families should hear it early: Florida restricts recovery of non-economic damages by adult children of a decedent, and by parents of an adult decedent, in medical negligence cases. That provision has been the subject of repeated legislative attention and should be confirmed as current before anyone relies on it.

A Florida wrongful death action must generally be filed within two years of the date of death.

Two situations change the analysis. Claims against a government entity require written notice to the agency and to the state before suit can be filed, along with a waiting period, and that notice deadline arrives well before the filing deadline. Medical negligence claims run on their own track, with a presuit investigation and notice process that must be completed before a complaint is filed, plus a separate outer limit that can bar a claim regardless of when it was discovered.

These deadlines are absolute. A meritorious claim filed late is not a late claim. It is no claim at all, which is the single reason we would rather hear from a family early than have them wait until they feel ready.

Vehicle, truck, motorcycle and pedestrian collisions. Falls and other incidents on unsafe property. Inadequate security. Workplace incidents. Defective products. Drownings. The underlying claim is proven the way any negligence claim is proven, and the investigation looks the same, but it proceeds while a family is grieving and that changes how it should be handled.

Opening the estate and having a personal representative appointed, where that has not already happened. Identifying every responsible party and every applicable policy. Preserving evidence before it is lost, which in a fatal crash or a fatal premises incident means moving within days. Dealing with the insurers directly, so that nobody in your family has to take those calls. Coordinating with any criminal proceeding without letting it stall the civil claim.