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Losing a child is devastating at any age. When an adult child dies because of another person’s negligence or wrongful conduct, parents may wonder whether Texas law gives them the right to pursue a claim. The fact that a son or daughter was over 18 does not automatically prevent a parent from taking legal action.
Texas wrongful death law specifically recognizes parents as potential beneficiaries. For families in Fort Worth, understanding these rights can be an important first step after a fatal accident.
Yes. Under Texas law, a wrongful death action is for the benefit of the deceased person’s surviving spouse, children, and parents. Texas does not eliminate a parent’s status as a wrongful death beneficiary simply because the deceased child had reached adulthood.
This means a parent may potentially pursue a wrongful death claim after losing an adult son or daughter if the death resulted from another party’s wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.
Our Fort Worth wrongful death attorneys can investigate the circumstances of a fatal accident and help families understand what claims may be available.
Age can be relevant to a wrongful death case, but not because a child suddenly stops being a child in the eyes of a grieving parent after turning 18.
Instead, age may affect the evidence used to establish the losses resulting from the death.
Consider two different situations. A 19-year-old college student may still live with his or her parents and depend heavily on the family for financial and emotional support. A 45-year-old adult child may have a spouse, children, career, and household of his or her own.
Both may have close relationships with their parents. However, the financial circumstances and evidence of the losses experienced by each family could look very different.
That is why wrongful death cases require an individualized evaluation rather than assumptions based solely on age.
Being the parent of the deceased establishes an important part of the right to pursue a wrongful death action, but it does not automatically establish liability.
A wrongful death case must generally connect the death to legally actionable conduct by another person or entity.
Depending on the circumstances, that could involve a:
Evidence becomes especially important when liability is disputed. Accident reports, photographs, videos, witness testimony, electronic data, medical records, company documents, and expert analysis may all play roles in determining what happened.
In Fort Worth wrongful death cases involving commercial trucks, for example, evidence may extend well beyond the police report. Driver records, vehicle information, company policies, electronic logging data, maintenance records, and other materials may become relevant.
A wrongful death claim focuses on losses suffered by eligible surviving family members because of the death.
Depending on the circumstances, recoverable damages may address financial and personal losses. For a parent who has lost an adult child, the nature and extent of those losses depend heavily on the family’s individual circumstances.
Potential damages may include compensation related to:
Determining damages is not simply a matter of assigning a standard amount to the death of an adult child. Every family relationship is different.
Evidence showing the closeness of the parent-child relationship can therefore become important. The frequency of communication, time spent together, shared activities, emotional support, and other aspects of the relationship may help demonstrate the effect of the loss.
An adult child’s financial independence does not, by itself, remove a parent from the class of beneficiaries identified by the Texas Wrongful Death Act.
This distinction matters because parents sometimes assume they have no claim if their adult child had moved away, started a career, married, or no longer relied on them financially.
Wrongful death damages are not limited to financial dependency.
For example, the loss of companionship and society and the mental anguish associated with losing a child are different from the loss of financial support. Consequently, the absence of financial dependence does not necessarily mean that a parent suffered no legally recognized loss.
The evidence and potential damages will depend on the particular relationship and circumstances.
Parents are not the only people Texas law recognizes as wrongful death beneficiaries. A deceased person’s surviving spouse and children may also have rights.
If an adult child leaves behind a spouse, children, and parents, the existence of those other beneficiaries does not automatically eliminate the parents’ potential claim.
Texas law permits one or more eligible beneficiaries to bring an action for the benefit of all eligible beneficiaries. This makes it particularly important to identify the surviving family members early in the case and understand how the wrongful death action will proceed.
Family circumstances can become more complicated when beneficiaries live in different places or have different relationships with the deceased. Legal guidance can help families understand how those issues affect the case.
No. Although wrongful death and survival claims may arise from the same fatal accident, they address different losses.
A wrongful death action generally concerns losses experienced by qualifying family members because their loved one died.
A survival action, by contrast, preserves certain claims the injured person could have pursued had he or she survived. In other words, the underlying personal injury claim can survive the person’s death and be pursued on behalf of the estate or other legally authorized parties.
For example, if an adult child suffered serious injuries and survived for a period before dying, a survival action could involve losses connected with the injuries before death. The parents’ wrongful death claims would address their own legally recognized losses resulting from the death.
A fatal accident may therefore involve more than one type of claim.
Families understandably need time to grieve. Unfortunately, important evidence does not always wait.
Vehicles can be repaired or destroyed. Surveillance recordings may be overwritten. Witnesses can become harder to locate. Businesses may possess electronic records or other evidence that needs to be preserved promptly.
Texas law also imposes deadlines on wrongful death claims. Waiting too long can jeopardize the ability to pursue compensation, even when the underlying case would otherwise have merit.
Speaking with a Fort Worth wrongful death lawyer early can allow an investigation to begin while evidence is still available.
The age of an adult child does not determine the importance of the relationship between a parent and child. Texas law recognizes parents among the family members who may pursue a wrongful death action when negligence or wrongful conduct causes a loved one’s death.
If you are dealing with the wrongful death of an adult child in Fort Worth, our attorneys are here to help. Call us today or connect with us online to schedule a consultation.
