What to legally do if you’ve been in a vehicle accident that caused a wrongful death
**A contributed post as written for The Safe Driver by Adeline Robinson.
You brought your spouse, kids, and parents along with you one day as you drove your way out of town to take your yearly vacation. You hadn’t reached your destination yet when another vehicle suddenly crashed into yours which left your spouse and parents dead. After you and your kids survived a harrowing experience, you eventually decided to file a criminal lawsuit against the driver of the other vehicle that hit you. However, the judge dismissed your case. All hope is not lost though as you still have the option from a civil law standpoint if you’ve been in a vehicle accident that caused a wrongful death:
- Prove that the four elements of a wrongful death claim exist on your end so that you can stand a chance at winning your civil lawsuit against the driver who had hit your vehicle and killed your spouse and parents.
As with the criminal lawsuit that you previously filed against the driver who caused the vehicle accident between you and them to happen, you’ll also have to present sufficient proof to make the driver in question accountable for their untoward actions by showing with the help of an attorney that the following elements are present:
- Your spouse and parents died as a direct result of the at-fault driver’s negligent actions.
- You and your kids are suffering financial losses after the untimely death of your spouse and parents caused by the vehicle accident that killed them.
- Either an executor or administrator was appointed to properly distribute the assets of your spouse and parents after their death.
- If your spouse or parents didn’t appoint you as their representative in the will that they left behind before their untimely death due to a vehicle accident that you all got caught in, let the executor of their estate file your wrongful death lawsuit against the driver at fault.
Regardless if your spouse or parents already drafted a will after having a premonition that they’ll die from an accident, or if they’ve prepared a will in anticipation of a natural passing, you can’t directly file a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver that caused the said incident to happen.
- Under civil law, only the personal representative appointed by your spouse or parents in their will can submit a wrongful death lawsuit in court.
- You and your kids, however, can recover any damages resulting from the filed wrongful death lawsuit as real parties of interest.
- If your spouse or old folks hadn’t left any will behind before their untimely death due to a vehicle accident that you all got caught in, and the probate court appointed you as their estate’s administrator, you can file the wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault driver yourself.
On the other hand, your spouse or parents might not have bothered at all to draft a will most likely because they thought that they’d live long enough to be a hundred years old. In this case, you can ask your state’s probate court to designate you as the administrator of their estate. This way, you don’t need to worry about a third party who you may not trust that much as you can directly file a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver who caused the vehicle accident that killed your spouse and parents to happen.
- File your wrongful death lawsuit against the driver who caused the vehicle accident that killed your spouse and parents preferably before the statute of limitations expires.
Whether it’ll be the executor named in either your spouse or parents’ will or you as the administrator of their estate who’ll file a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver who caused the vehicle accident that killed them, you only have a limited amount of time to do so.
- Your state’s statute of limitations exists to prevent people filing civil lawsuits from putting it off for another time until they completely forget about it or to intentionally turn their case into a media spectacle.
- Failing to file your wrongful death lawsuit against the driver who caused the vehicle accident that killed your spouse and parents within the deadline set by your state’s statute of limitations automatically removes you of your last chance to hold the at-fault driver liable under civil law.
Filing a criminal lawsuit against another driver whose negligent actions had resulted in a vehicle accident is expensive and time-consuming. It doesn’t even guarantee you at all that you’ll get the justice that you deserve after your spouse and parents got killed as a result of the said incident. You can still bounce back from losing your case though as a wrongful death lawsuit can bring the odds back in your favor. However, since a wrongful death lawsuit might sound new to you, you’ll want to take note of the things that you can legally do if you’ve been in a vehicle accident that caused a wrongful death so that you and your kids can win your case and recover faster.
If you’ve met a fatal vehicle accident due to auto defects that caused a wrongful death, you may be entitled to file a product liability lawsuit against the party at fault. You can click here if you and your family would want to get compensated for the damages caused by the accident.
Adeline Robinson
Adeline Robinson is one of most promising young law writers. She writes pieces on law topics for common readers. She is an 
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