If you’ve lost a child in an accident that was caused by the negligence of someone else then you know a depth of pain that most people will never go through. This can become even more complicated when it comes time to file a personal injury claim and you’re faced with putting a price on the death of your child. Gilbert & Smallman is here to help. Read on to learn about a parent’s options for financial recover after the loss of a child and then call us for your free case evaluation.

Financial recovery is limited to financial loss

When it comes to losing a child, the courts will mostly only award money that’s equal to the actual financial loss. In most cases, this is a relatively small award. The financial loss will be affected by:

• The age, life expectancy, health, gender, work expectancy of the child.
• The relationships that the person claiming the loss had to the child.
• The earning potential of the deceased child.
• The age, health, and circumstances of the person claiming the financial loss.

Most of these factors are based on speculation

As you can see, most of these factors are nothing more than speculation. No one knows what type of job a six-year-old boy would have had if he’d grown up. Since this is such an non-exact situation, a jury will often use a work-life expectancy table as their beginning point to calculate damages.

Damages parents can claim in a wrongful death suit

Generally speaking, the damages a parent can claim begins with “special damages.” This is the actual financial loss associated with things like hospital stays, medication, and medical bills before the child died. It could include life support, ambulance services, emergency surgery, or any other bills the child incurred before their death.

Parents can also make a claim for “loss of consortium,” which covers non-financial issues like the destruction of their relationship with their child, the loss of love, and the loss of companionship. Parents may also be able to recover financial damages for grief, suffering, and mental anguish. This can include the parent’s costs associated with grief counseling, psychiatric treatments, and medication.

In many cases, when you work with a personal injury attorney like Gilbert & Smallman, we will work directly with expert witnesses to find a fair compensation. If you’re considering filing a wrongful death suit then we urge you to call us today for a free consultation.