Common Questions / Wrongful Death
What damages can my family recover in a Texas wrongful death case?
Texas law gives the surviving spouse, children, and parents a claim for their own losses, including lost financial support, lost companionship and society, and mental anguish, and gives the estate a separate survival claim for what the deceased suffered before death.
Who the wrongful death law protects
Texas's wrongful death law limits the claim to three groups: the surviving spouse, the children, and the parents of the deceased. Siblings, grandparents, and others, however close, are not statutory beneficiaries. Each beneficiary has their own claim for their own losses, and the losses differ: a spouse loses a partner and household income, a young child loses a parent's care, counsel, and support across decades, a parent loses a child's companionship. Juries assess each relationship on its own evidence.
What the beneficiaries can recover
Wrongful death damages compensate the living for what death took from them: pecuniary losses, meaning the financial support, services, and contributions the deceased would have provided; loss of companionship and society; mental anguish; and loss of inheritance, the estate the deceased would likely have accumulated and passed on. Where the death resulted from a willful act or gross negligence, exemplary damages are constitutionally available in Texas, a threat that meaningfully changes how carriers evaluate the worst cases.
The survival claim: the deceased's own case
Separate from the family's claim, Texas law preserves the cause of action the deceased personally had, which passes to the estate. The survival claim recovers what your loved one experienced and incurred before death: conscious pain and suffering, medical expenses from the injury, and funeral and burial costs. In cases where death was not instantaneous, this claim can be substantial, and it belongs to the estate rather than to individual family members, which affects who must participate and how proceeds are distributed.
Deadlines and why these cases need care
The wrongful death limitations period is generally two years from the date of death, with tolling for minor children, and the statute contains its own procedural rules about who may file and when. These cases also carry an emotional weight that insurers exploit with early, undervalued offers to grieving families. No family should evaluate such an offer without knowing what both claims, wrongful death and survival, are truly worth, and that evaluation costs nothing.
Injured in Arizona? Some rules on this page are Texas-specific. Arizona differs on points that change outcomes, including pure comparative fault and government-claim deadlines. See our Arizona answers or call (888) 508-6967.
Related: Wrongful Death · What Is My Case Worth? · Submit Your Case · All Common Questions
This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes depend on facts; talk to a lawyer about yours.
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