How Wrongful Death Settlements Are Paid Out in Florida

How Wrongful Death Settlements Are Paid Out in Florida

If you are in the unfortunate position of having to pursue a wrongful death case, it's important to understand how wrongful death settlements are paid out in Florida. Florida law outlines how wrongful death settlements should be paid out. Typically, the case is brought and controlled by the personal representative, and the money is paid to the deceased person's estate, rather than directly to individuals.

Once money goes into the estate, it is then distributed according to a will or, if there is no will, according the Florida's intestacy laws. Things like unpaid medical bills and funeral expenses are typically paid first, and then the funds are distributed to the beneficiaries of the estate.

It's important to note that wrongful death laws can vary from state to state. This article is specifically about how wrongful death settlements are paid out in Florida.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us for a free consultation with a lawyer at 321-LAWSUIT. We don't get paid until you get paid, so you don't have to worry about any upfront costs or retainer fees. We can help you better understand the process moving forward and how to maximize the value of your potential wrongful death case.

The Settlement Process

Once the parties reach a settlement, this means that the case is effectively over. In other words, the case will not go to trial because one party (the Defendant) has agreed to pay the other party (the Plaintiff) money. In return for payment, the Plaintiff agrees to release the Defendant from liability.

Typically, the Defendant will send a release to us for the Plaintiff to sign. This releases the Defendant from liability and essentially puts an end to the claim. When we send the signed release back to the Defendant, the Defendant will typically send us a check within 20 days of receiving the signed release.

During this time, we organize all the liens, bills, and expenses that need to be paid from the settlement. That way, when we receive the check, we can work to get creditors and lien holders paid. Once we have satisfied our legal obligation to creditors and lien holders, we can distribute the funds to the estate and the beneficiaries.

How Settlement Proceeds Are Distributed After The Parties Reach a Settlement

Settlement proceeds are typically distributed to lien holders and priority creditors first. For example, funeral expenses, health insurance liens, hospital liens, and medical expenses are often some of the first expenses paid from a wrongful death settlement in Florida. Once creditors and lien holders are paid, the funds can be distributed to the estate and beneficiaries.

Who is Entitled to Settlement Proceeds in A Florida Wrongful Death Case?

In Florida wrongful death cases, proceeds will be paid out according to the survivors the deceased person leaves behind. Thus, the way that a wrongful death settlement is paid out in Florida will depend upon the survivors. Under Florida Statute 768.21, damages in a Florida wrongful death suit may be awarded to the following people:

1. A surviving spouse;
2. Children;
3. Parents; and
4. Dependent relatives.

We will discuss each category of survivor in greater detail below.

Compensation for A Surviving Spouse

In a wrongful death suit in Florida, the surviving spouse may recover for loss of support and services, which is calculated from the date of the decedent’s injury. The surviving spouse may also recover for the following types of damages:

• Loss of companionship with the deceased spouse;
• Loss of protection from the deceased spouse; and
• Mental pain and suffering from the date of injury to the deceased spouse.

Loss of companionship and protection, as well as mental pain and suffering, are difficult to quantify, and there is no magic algorithm that will provide a value. The value of the loss will be highly dependent upon the relationship between the decedent and the surviving spouse and how the surviving spouse tells his or her story to a jury. Thus, a stronger relationship with fewer marital problems would likely justify a larger award than a poor relationship with serious marital issues.

Compensation for A Child

Under Florida law, children may recover for the loss of a parent in a wrongful death suit. The type and amount of damages a child can recover for the loss of a parent in Florida may vary depending upon whether the child is a minor or an adult. Under Florida law, an adult child is a child that is 25 years old or older.

Minor Children of a Deceased Parent

The decedent’s minor children may recover for lost support and services, as well as mental pain and suffering. Additionally, minor children may recover for lost companionship with the deceased parent; lost instruction from the deceased parent; and lost guidance from the deceased parent.

There is no equation where we can plug in values and get a dollar amount for the minor child’s loss of companionship, instruction, and guidance. Thus, we are left to look at a number of factors to attempt to assign a value to the loss. Below are some of the factors to consider when determining how much money should be awarded to the minor child:

• Time the parent and child spent together;
• Frequency of guidance given from the parent to the child;
• Degree to which the parent was involved in the child’s life;
• Nature of the day-to-day interactions between the parent and the child; and
• Amount of instruction provided by the parent to the child.

This is not a complete list, and no factor is determinative. However, by looking to a number of factors, you and your Florida wrongful death attorney can work together to assemble evidence that justifies a proper award of damages.

Adult Children of a Deceased Parent

Under Florida law, an adult child may only recover if there was no surviving spouse of the decedent. If there is no surviving spouse, an adult child may recover for lost support and services, as well as for medical or funeral expenses incurred by the adult child as a result of losing his or her parent. Additionally, adult children of a deceased parent with no surviving spouse may recover for lost parental companionship, guidance, and instruction, as well as for mental pain and suffering from the date of the deceased parent’s injury.

Compensation for a Parent

Parents may recover damages for the loss of a minor child. Each parent of a deceased adult child may also recover for mental pain and suffering, but only if the adult child left behind no other survivors. In other words, parents of a deceased adult child would only be able to recover for mental pain and suffering if the deceased child left behind no spouse or children. Let’s dig into this in a bit more detail.

Parents of a Deceased Minor Child

Under Florida law, each parent of a deceased minor child may recover for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. Additionally, parents of a deceased minor child may also recover for lost support and services, as well as for medical and funeral expenses associated with the death of the minor child.

Calculating lost support and services from a minor child is not as quantifiable as it might be for an adult child, who may have an established career and pattern of providing services. Thus, determining these types of damages with regard to a minor child is more difficult because there is less data to work with.

A jury may consider the things like the child’s age, health, life expectancy, and the child's overall expected earning capacity. This is clearly based on speculation, but the jury must attempt to determine what the child would have contributed to the parents over the course of the child’s life. Thus, sometimes a jury will use a work-life expectancy table or some other objective data in an attempt to assign a value.

The mental pain and suffering of the parents can also be somewhat speculative. To assign a value, juries will look at the relationship between the child and the parents. The jury will look at how close they were as a family and how much time they spent together. Again, there is no equation for assigning a value to mental pain and suffering. Therefore, determining the award will be based upon a number of factors.

Parents of a Deceased Adult Child

Just as above, parents of a deceased adult child may recover for loss of support and services, as well as for medical and funeral expenses incurred as a result of losing their child. In addition, parents of an adult child may recover for mental pain and suffering but only if there are no other survivors.

As we mentioned above, there is no equation for determining mental pain and suffering. Thus, a jury will consider a number of factors to determine the value of the parents’ loss. For example, parents who maintained a strong relationship with their adult child and spent significant amounts of time with that adult child would be expected to receive more value for mental pain and suffering than parents who had a poor relationship with their deceased adult child.

Compensation for Dependent Relatives

Under Florida law, blood relatives and adoptive brothers and sisters of the deceased may also be able to collect damages in a wrongful death suit if they were dependent on the deceased for financial support or services. The amount of the award would be dependent upon their level of dependency upon the decedent.

Factors That Determine the Value of a Florida Wrongful Death Case

As we’ve talked about above, there is no algorithm or formula that we can use to get a value for a wrongful death settlement in Florida. Whether the survivor is a spouse, child, parent, or other dependent relative, we will ultimately have to depend upon a number of factors to justify a certain monetary award for damages. In other words, every survivor who is entitled to benefits for lost support, lost services, and pain and suffering will receive a certain amount of money that is based upon a weighing or various factors.

In determining the value of the loss of support and services, mental pain and suffering, and any other intangible loss a person might experience as a result of losing a loved one, the jury will analyze a number of factors, including:

• The survivor’s relationship to the decedent;
• The amount of the decedent’s probable income available for distribution;
• The replacement value of the decedent’s services to the survivor;
• The life expectancies of the survivor and the decedent; and
• In the case of healthy minor children, the period of minority.

How Can a Wrongful Death Lawyer Help Me With My Case?

We aren't the government, so we can't throw anyone in jail for you, but we can do everything we can to make them pay with money. Sometimes making a negligent company or person pay for the damage they caused is the best way to get their attention and change their behavior. Here's how we can help:

• Perform an investigation
• Hire expert witnesses
• Send a demand letter to the insurance company
• Negotiate with insurance adjusters
• File a lawsuit if a reasonable settlement cannot be reached
• Litigate the case and get answers through discovery
• Accompany you at mediation to tell your story and demand payment
• Take the defense to trial

When you work with us, you are always in control. We give you our recommendations and our advice, but ultimately you decide whether or not to settle a case or go to trial. Our job is to be your counselor and to be prepared to take the case to trial, if you so choose.

Contact a Wrongful Death Lawyer at Our Office

Filing a wrongful death lawsuit is one of the last things on the minds of family members after a loved one’s death. However, weeks after losing a loved one, people begin thinking about justice. They typically ask questions, like:

• How can I make the person that killed my loved one pay?
• How can I make sure that person or company doesn’t negligently kill someone else?
• Why should my family be stuck with medical bills and funeral costs when someone else's recklessness caused all our problems?

We are here to help you. Call us anytime at 321-LAWSUIT, and we will help you understand your legal options. Also, when you choose to work with us, you pay nothing unless we recover money for you.

Money will not fix the pain associated with losing a loved one, but money can help to change the behavior of a negligent person or company. It’s a way to get justice for a lost life, and it’s a way to help ensure that fewer people will go through what you’re going through. Additionally, if your loved one was taken from you by a negligent person or company, you and your family should be compensated for what the negligent person or company took from you.

We are here to help you. Give us a call if you need us.

Frequently Asked Questions About How Wrongful Death Settlements Are Paid Out in Florida