First, I want to say about wrongful death is it’s always difficult, obviously, when you’re burying a loved one to think about well, why did this happen and should we get a lawyer because yeah, you’re trying to, obviously, go through the grieving process and it’s hard. But again, the person who calls this tragedy most likely their insurance is already investigating it, already have their experts.

As far as who can make a claim in Texas for wrongful death, parents and it doesn’t matter their age so if someone who’s in their 50s passes away but they’re parents are still alive in their 70s they have a claim. The spouse has a claim and any children have claims. And again, it doesn’t matter their age. As far as spouses that can be common law spouse in Texas or legally married either went to the church or went to the courthouse and got married.

That damages in wrongful death the estate itself, the person who passes away estate can recover funeral and burial expenses as well as conscious, physical pain and suffering, which literally means did they physically, consciously experience pain and suffering before they died. You can as what we call the wrongful death beneficiaries the parents, spouse, and children they can recover a loss of what they call pecuniary support or how much money was the person who passed away providing to the family or to this person. You can recover loss of companionship in society, which is kind of similar to mental anguish, the love, not having that relationship anymore because they passed away.

And in some cases, you can recover punitive damages but it’s not as common in Texas. But again, it’s hard to think about when to hire a lawyer but you really need to.