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Did you lose someone because of another person's or company's actions?

We are sorry for your loss. If someone you love died because of a crash, a fall, unsafe conditions at work, a defective product, or medical harm, we are here to help.

Take care of yourself and your family first.

  • There is no rush. This page will still be here when you are ready.
  • Call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) if you need someone to talk to.
  • Come back to this page whenever you are ready.

This page covers wrongful death deadlines and what families can do, at your own pace. We are the family's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so your family has accountability and security going forward. Always free. When you are ready, talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

A wrongful death claim is a legal way for the surviving family to seek support after a death caused by someone else's carelessness or wrongdoing. It does not undo the loss. It can help with funeral costs, lost income, and medical bills from before the death.

Why wrongful death claims are tricky

What real wrongful death cases have paid

These are publicly reported results. They show how widely cases vary based on the facts. They are examples only, not a promise or estimate of what any case is worth. We are not a law firm.

The point of these numbers is not to promise an outcome. It is to show that the legal system is built to respond seriously when a death was preventable.

Talk to an advocate. There is no pressure and no rush.

When it goes wrong: a true story

In Wyoming, a construction worker named Pedro Barba-Caro died in March 2024 after a fall at a job site, and federal safety investigators later cited the construction company for five serious safety violations.

His widow, Maribel Carrillo-Farfan, filed her wrongful death lawsuit just 13 days before the two-year deadline. But under Wyoming law, a wrongful death case must be brought "by and in the name of" an official court-appointed representative, and she did not ask the court to appoint her to that role until months later, after the deadline had already passed.

The defendants argued the entire case should be dismissed because of that gap (Jackson Hole News&Guide).

She did nothing wrong as a grieving spouse. The rules around who is allowed to bring a wrongful death case, and when, are more layered than most people realize. This is why having help early matters, not because families make mistakes, but because the system has extra steps that are easy to miss during the hardest weeks of a person's life. When you are ready, talk to an advocate about who should be named before any deadline passes.

What to do in the first days

  1. When you are ready, talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free.
  2. If safety officials, police, or a coroner are investigating, ask for a copy of their report once it is available.
  3. Keep funeral, medical, and income records. These often matter later, even if it does not feel like the right time to think about paperwork.
  4. Learn who, under your state's law, has the right to bring a claim on behalf of the family. This is not always obvious, and getting it wrong can cost time you do not get back.
  5. Warning: don't wait. The deadline is a trap, and family wrongful death deadlines can involve extra steps beyond just the calendar date, so learning it late can cost your family the claim. The longer you wait, the harder records and witness memories become to gather. Find your state on our state pages when you are ready.

A few gentle notes

What we can help with

All of it is free to you. We never take money from injured families.

Talk to an advocate. You should not have to carry this alone.

Sources