{"id":31215,"date":"2020-01-24T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abconlinehold.wpengine.com\/?post_type=faq&#038;p=31215"},"modified":"2023-01-30T10:48:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T15:48:37","slug":"sue-for-wrongful-death-houston","status":"publish","type":"faq-article","link":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/faq\/sue-for-wrongful-death-houston\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Can Sue for Wrongful Death in Houston?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Losing a loved one is hard enough. When your loved one dies as a result of someone else\u2019s negligence, it is unbearable. The last thing you expect when your spouse leaves for work is that they\u2019ll be killed in a car accident. Sadly, this happens every day in Texas. You can turn on the news and you\u2019ll see a report about a fatal crash just about any given evening.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes these accidents are caused by reckless behavior. Someone is drinking and driving and crashes into an innocent SUV. But, more often than not, these accidents are nothing more than that \u2013 accidents. Someone makes a simple mistake and it sets off a chain reaction that causes someone\u2019s death. It has nothing to do with the defendant being a bad person. It\u2019s just bad luck. But when it happens to you, you take it personally.<\/p>\n<p>While nothing can bring your loved one back, you can try to get justice for your family. You may be able to <a href=\"https:\/\/statelaws.findlaw.com\/texas-law\/wrongful-death-laws-in-texas.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">file a wrongful death claim<\/a> against the other driver. If this is the case, you\u2019ll need an experienced <a href=\"\/wrongful-death-attorney-houston-tx\/\">wrongful death lawyer in the Houston area<\/a>. They can handle the legal side of things while you focus on grieving and taking care of your family.<\/p>\n<h2>What Exactly is Wrongful Death?<\/h2>\n<p>Wrongful death is what it sounds like. Someone does something wrong and an innocent person dies as a result. For example, someone may be texting while driving and veer into oncoming traffic. As a result, the crash into your loved one\u2019s car. Your loved one dies from their injuries and the other passengers in the car suffer serious injuries.<\/p>\n<p>In most wrongful death cases, your Houston personal injury lawyer has to prove negligence. To do this, they have to demonstrate four (4) things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The defendant owed your loved one a duty of care<\/li>\n<li>they breached this duty<\/li>\n<li>Your loved one died<\/li>\n<li>Their death was caused by the defendant\u2019s breach<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your attorney is able to prove these four things, you will probably be able to recover damages. However, not everyone can file a wrongful death claim in Texas.<\/p>\n<h2>Who is Able to Sue for Wrongful Death?<\/h2>\n<p>Some states only let the executor of the estate file for wrongful death. Texas is not one of them. In Texas, most immediate family members can sue for wrongful death claim. This includes the following people:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The surviving spouse<\/li>\n<li>The children of the decedent<\/li>\n<li>The victim\u2019s parents<\/li>\n<li>Adopted children of the deceased<\/li>\n<li>The deceased\u2019s adoptive parents<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The one exception is that the victim\u2019s brothers and sisters cannot file for damages. They are not in the protected class.<\/p>\n<h2>What Kinds of Damages Can You Demand?<\/h2>\n<p>The whole point of filing a wrongful death claim is to recover damages for your family. There are two types of damages involved. Those intended to compensate the family of the decedent and the damages your loved one could\u2019ve claimed had they survived.<\/p>\n<p>The specific <a href=\"https:\/\/injury.findlaw.com\/torts-and-personal-injuries\/wrongful-death-settlement-distribution-laws-by-state.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">types of damages in a wrongful death case<\/a> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Money to make up for the loss of your family member\u2019s services, care and support.<\/li>\n<li>Reimbursement for any inheritance that you will no longer received because of the death of your loved one<\/li>\n<li>Just like in other personal injury cases, you can demand any lost wages and future earnings of the decedent<\/li>\n<li>Any medical bills that accrued while the victim was still alive. You can also file a demand for any funeral and burial expenses<\/li>\n<li>The spouse can sue for something called loss of consortium. This is based on the lack of their love and caring.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is no way any lawyer can bring your loved one back. However, they can do their best to get you and your family the justice you deserve. If this means you get money, so be it. This at least shows that the defendant doesn\u2019t get off without any punishment.<\/p>\n<h2>Contact an Experienced Wrongful Death Attorney in Houston, Texas<\/h2>\n<p>If your loved one dies in any sort of accident, you may be able to sue for wrongful death. This means you\u2019ll receive damages related to your loved one\u2019s death. You only have two years to file for wrongful death in Texas. This means you do not want to wait too long to contact an experienced <a href=\"\/houston\/personal-injury-lawyer\/\">personal injury attorney in Houston, Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Call today and schedule your initial consultation. It\u2019s absolutely free and you pay nothing unless you settle your case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":31216,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"practice-area":[608],"class_list":["post-31215","faq-article","type-faq-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","practice-area-wrongful-death"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq-article\/31215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/faq-article"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"practice-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcdonaldworley.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/practice-area?post=31215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}