Car Accident Lawyers Austin: How Our Attorneys Pursue Wrongful Death Claims

Nothing prepares you for the phone call telling you a loved one was killed in a car accident. Grief overwhelms everything else—yet amid that grief, practical realities intrude. Medical bills from emergency treatment arrive. Funeral costs mount. The income your family depended on disappears. Our car accident lawyers in Austin understand that pursuing legal claims feels impossible when you’re mourning, but these claims exist precisely to help families survive the financial devastation that accompanies tragic loss. We handle wrongful death cases with compassion and determination, fighting for justice while families focus on healing.

Understanding Wrongful Death Claims in Texas

Texas wrongful death law allows certain family members to pursue compensation when someone dies due to another person’s negligence. In car accident cases, this means families can hold negligent drivers accountable for the full impact of their deadly choices.

Wrongful death claims are separate from criminal proceedings. Even if prosecutors decline to file charges or a driver is acquitted criminally, families retain the right to pursue civil claims. Different standards of proof apply—civil cases require proving negligence by a preponderance of evidence, a lower threshold than criminal cases require.

Who Can File Wrongful Death Claims

Texas law limits who can bring wrongful death claims to specific categories of family members. Our Austin car accident lawyers file wrongful death claims on behalf of:

Surviving spouses who lost their husband or wife in a car accident. Spouses can recover damages for their own losses resulting from the death, including loss of companionship, support, and services.

Children of the deceased, including adopted children. Children can pursue claims regardless of their age, though damage calculations differ for minor children versus adult children.

Parents of the deceased. When someone killed in a car accident leaves no surviving spouse or children, parents become the primary claimants. Parents can also pursue claims alongside spouses and children.

If no surviving spouse, children, or parents bring a wrongful death claim within three months of the death, the deceased person’s estate can file a survival action.

Types of Compensation in Wrongful Death Cases

Wrongful death damages in Texas car accident cases fall into several categories. Our car accident attorneys in Austin pursue every form of compensation available to our clients.

Economic Damages

Economic damages cover the financial losses families suffer due to their loved one’s death.

Lost financial support compensates families for the income the deceased would have provided over their expected lifetime. Our Austin car accident lawyer team works with economists to calculate this figure, considering the deceased’s age, occupation, earning history, and career trajectory.

Lost benefits include health insurance, retirement contributions, and other employment benefits the family lost access to.

Lost services cover the value of household services, childcare, guidance, and other contributions the deceased provided.

Medical expenses incurred attempting to save the deceased’s life before death occurred are recoverable.

Funeral and burial costs are compensable economic damages.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages address losses that lack specific dollar values but profoundly impact surviving family members.

Loss of companionship compensates surviving spouses for the loss of their partner—the love, affection, emotional support, and intimacy they can no longer share.

Loss of parental guidance addresses what children lose when a parent is killed—nurturing, education, moral guidance, and the relationship they’ll never have.

Mental anguish compensates family members for the emotional suffering caused by their loved one’s death.

Loss of inheritance addresses the inheritance that family members would have received had the deceased lived their full expected lifespan.

Punitive Damages

When the conduct causing death demonstrates gross negligence or willful misconduct, Texas law permits punitive damages designed to punish wrongdoers and deter similar behavior. Our car accident lawyer Austin team pursues punitive damages in cases involving drunk driving, extreme recklessness, or intentional misconduct.

How Our Austin Car Accident Attorneys Build Wrongful Death Cases

Wrongful death claims require comprehensive evidence establishing both liability and damages. Our car accident lawyers in Austin conduct thorough investigations that honor the deceased while building compelling cases for maximum compensation.

Establishing Liability

We investigate fatal accidents with the same intensity we bring to any serious car accident claim—obtaining police reports, interviewing witnesses, securing surveillance footage, and working with accident reconstruction experts. Proving negligence requires demonstrating that the at-fault driver breached their duty of care and that breach caused the fatal collision.

Documenting Damages

Calculating wrongful death damages requires understanding who the deceased was—their career, their family role, their plans for the future. Our Austin car accident attorneys work sensitively with families to gather information about their loved one’s life, earning capacity, and relationships. We retain economists, vocational experts, and other professionals who can translate this information into damage calculations that juries understand.

Preserving Memories

Beyond the legal case, we help families preserve their loved one’s memory. Photographs, letters, testimony from friends and colleagues—these materials humanize the deceased for juries while giving families meaningful ways to remember and honor their loved one.

The Timeline for Wrongful Death Claims

Texas imposes a two-year statute of limitations on wrongful death claims. This deadline runs from the date of death, not the date of the accident. While two years seems like ample time, building a strong wrongful death case requires extensive investigation and preparation. Our car accident attorneys in Austin encourage families to contact us promptly so we have maximum time to develop their claims.

Why Acting Quickly Matters

Evidence disappears over time. Witnesses move or forget details. Vehicles are repaired or scrapped. Surveillance footage gets deleted. Our Austin car accident lawyer team begins an investigation immediately, preserving evidence while it remains available.

Handling Insurance Company Contacts

Insurance companies contact grieving families quickly after fatal accidents, sometimes within days. These early contacts may seem sympathetic, but insurers have business motivations—they want to settle claims cheaply before families understand their full value.

Our car accident attorney Austin team handles all insurance communications on behalf of wrongful death clients. We shield families from intrusive contacts while ensuring nothing they say can be used to undermine their claims. Insurance adjusters are trained negotiators; grieving families shouldn’t face them alone.

Compassionate Legal Representation

Our Austin car accident lawyers understand that wrongful death cases aren’t just legal matters—they’re family tragedies. We treat every client with compassion and respect, providing straightforward guidance while remaining sensitive to what families are experiencing.

We handle the legal burdens so families can focus on supporting each other through grief. Regular communication keeps families informed about case progress without overwhelming them with unnecessary details. We work around family schedules and emotional needs, never forgetting that real people with real pain stand behind every wrongful death claim.

Justice and Accountability

No lawsuit can bring back a loved one killed by a negligent driver. But wrongful death claims serve important purposes beyond financial compensation. They hold careless drivers accountable for the consequences of their choices. They send messages to the community that negligent driving has serious consequences. They provide families with a sense of justice that helps the healing process.

Our car accident lawyers Austin are honored to help families pursue this justice. If you’ve lost a loved one in an Austin car accident, we’re ready to explain your legal options and help you decide how to move forward.