Fort Worth Wrongful Death Lawyers
A wrongful death is a death that should never have happened, caused by someone else’s negligence or mistakes. If your family is carrying that loss, a wrongful death lawyer Fort Worth families have trusted for decades can carry the legal burden while you grieve.
How a Wrongful Death Attorney in Fort Worth Can Help
Losing a loved one to someone else’s carelessness is devastating in a way no legal process can repair. What a wrongful death case can do is establish accountability, replace the financial support your family lost, and sometimes force the changes that keep it from happening to another family. Our role is to take that entire fight off your shoulders.
Wrongful deaths arise from many causes, including car accidents, 18-wheeler collisions, worksite accidents, airline crashes, defective products, and faulty construction or wiring. Whatever negligent conduct caused the death, our law firm reviews the details of the incident quickly and carefully to determine whether there is a legitimate case, and then we provide steady, compassionate representation from the first conversation to the last. We have handled wrongful death cases for decades, many of them arising from the commercial trucking crashes at the center of our practice.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas?
Texas law limits who may bring the claim. A wrongful death action exists for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased, and any one of them may file on behalf of all. If no eligible family member files within three months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate generally brings the claim instead, unless the family asks them not to. Siblings and grandchildren, however close, do not have standing under the statute.
A separate survival claim can also exist alongside the wrongful death case. Brought by the estate’s personal representative, it recovers what your loved one personally suffered before death, including medical expenses and conscious pain and suffering. The two claims are often brought together, and sorting out which damages belong to which claim is part of what a wrongful death attorney in Fort Worth handles for you.
What Compensation Can a Wrongful Death Case Recover?
Some wrongful death damages are concrete. Funeral and burial expenses and the wages your loved one had already lost are based on actual dollar amounts and are straightforward to calculate. The larger part of most cases rests on what would have been: the earning capacity your loved one would have had, the love, support, and companionship they would have provided, and the inheritance their family could have expected. When the responsible parties acted recklessly, a jury can award punitive damages, which Texas law calls exemplary damages, meant to punish the conduct itself.
Proving those losses takes more than sympathy. When a case needs supporting testimony, we know who to call, because we have established relationships with physicians, nurses, automobile and aircraft manufacturers, accident investigators, claims adjusters, and accountants skilled at measuring the economic consequences of losing a loved one.
The Statute of Limitations in a Texas Wrongful Death Case
Texas generally allows two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit, and courts apply that limit strictly. The practical deadline is much shorter, because the evidence that proves negligence, from crash data to witness memory, degrades quickly. If you believe your family may have a claim, it is critically important that your attorney gathers evidence before it is lost or the details are forgotten.
How Our Fort Worth Wrongful Death Lawyers Move a Case Forward
A wrongful death claim moves in stages. First comes the investigation that establishes negligence, since the family must prove the same fault their loved one would have proven if they had lived. Then the losses are documented, often with supporting testimony on earning capacity and household contributions. From there, most cases enter settlement negotiations with the responsible parties’ insurers, and a wrongful death settlement is frequently reached once the defense understands the attorney across the table will try the case. When it will not settle fairly, we try it. At every stage, your attorney handles the process while your family is kept informed without being burdened.
Serving Families in Fort Worth and Across Texas
Our office is at 1119 Pennsylvania Ave. in Fort Worth, and wrongful death cases from this area are generally heard in the Tarrant County civil district courts at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building downtown. We represent families throughout Tarrant County and across Texas through Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey, As a Fort Worth wrongful death attorney team, both partners are board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law through the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and in Truck Accident Law through the National Board of Trial Advocacy, experience that matters most in the fatal trucking cases we so often handle.
Fort Worth Wrongful Death FAQs
Who can sue for wrongful death in Texas?
The surviving spouse, children, and parents of the person who died, and no one else. Any of these surviving family members can bring a wrongful death claim for the benefit of all, and if none files within three months, the estate’s personal representative generally must bring it for them.
How much can you sue for wrongful death in Texas?
Texas places no general cap on wrongful death damages in cases like vehicle and workplace deaths, so a settlement or verdict is measured by your family’s actual loss: financial support, companionship, inheritance, and the estate’s separate survival damages. Surviving family members recover compensation for their own losses, not a standardized amount. No responsible wrongful death attorney Fort Worth families consult will promise a number, but we can explain honestly what your case may support.
How hard is it to win a wrongful death lawsuit?
The claim must prove the same negligence your loved one would have had to prove if they had lived, which makes evidence, not emotion, the deciding factor. Cases are won by early investigation, credible supporting witnesses, and trial lawyers the defense takes seriously. It is demanding work, and it is the work we do.
How long do I have to file?
Generally two years from the date of death, not the date of the underlying accident. Exceptions are narrow, and waiting costs evidence either way, so speak with a wrongful death lawyer Fort Worth TX families can reach promptly, even if you are only exploring whether a claim exists. When you contact us, a free consultation carries no obligation of any kind.
Related Practice Areas
WRONGFUL DEATH – RESOURCES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Injuries (CDC)
Information on accident causes and prevention, traffic fatalities, drowning, falls, and more.
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Provides information on consumer product safety.
MEDLINEplus – Injuries and Wounds
From the National Library of Medicine, resources on injuries and accidents.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Provides information on highway safety and fatalities.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Comprehensive information on workplace safety.
National Patient Safety Foundation
Features patient safety literature.
National Toxicology Program
Fact sheets, testing information and study results regarding hazardous and toxic substances.
Violence Policy Center – Product Liability
Studies, fact sheets and press releases on firearms product liability