Father's Wrongful Death.

When you father dies in a fatal car accident that he did not cause, a wrongful death attorney should be able to help you recover money. A wrongful death settlement for your parent includes lost financial support, funeral expenses as well as some more complicated damages called loss comfort, society and protection.

All of the following people can recover money for a father’s wrongful death:

Biological children
Step children
Foster children
Illegitimate children.

(Here is more information regarding a husband’s wrongful death or a brother’s wrongful death.)

Your Father’s Financial Support Is Recoverable after Wrongful Death

The main portion of your wrongful death claim will be based on recovering money financial losses that would have been provided, and financial support can be proved in several ways:

You father’s earnings at the time of death
The value of what your father would have earned
His age
Education level
Skill
Personal habits
His career ambitions.

Your wrongful death claim is not limited to your parent’s personal labor if your father owned his own business and collected money from the labor of others. Your recovery amount may be limited to the life expectancy of either you or your father, whichever is shorter.

The next thing our wrongful death lawyers investigate is the amount of money the father would have contributed to support his children had he not suffered a wrongful death. This includes maintenance, education and paternal care, but we can also file for the expected cost of many items he would have provided:

Food
Clothing
Shoes
Housing
Books
College tuition
Haircuts
Entertainment
Travel
Medical and dental care
Eye examinations and eyeglasses
Gifts
Athletic equipment
Transportation
Or any other relevant items.

Another factor in your wrongful death settlement entails your relationship with your father.

The Father-Child Relationship Can Benefit a Wrongful Death Claim

The other portion of damages — the ones referred to as loss of comfort, society and protection — can be proved by discussing your relationship with your father. This includes but is not limited to shared activities, counsel and instruction he provided.

If you are all grown-up, you can still recover money for your father’s wrongful death. With claims from grown-up children, we try to highlight a few other parts of the relationship with their father:

How often the children and father visited one another.
The quality of the father/child relationship.
How often they got together for family gatherings.
We will even note the child’s respect for the late father.

Call Us Now to Maximize Your Wrongful Death Settlement

Wrongful death claims are very complex and come during a difficult time. For these reasons we strongly recommend that you consult with a wrongful death attorney from our San Diego law offices as soon as possible after your father’s death. With two decades of experience on our side, we can help make sure that your wrongful death claim is handled professionally with care.

We have found that the responsible party’s insurance company will probably not explain all of your legal rights due to the fact that insurance companies only want to pay you as little as possible. As if that’s not enough, insurance companies will attempt to poke holes in your relationship with your father, or they’ll even claim that you rarely saw or lived far away from each other.

You should not have to deal with this situation on your own. Call us now at 1-800-655-6585 for a FREE consultation with an experienced wrongful death attorney in San Diego or click here to submit your case for a FREE online review. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you owe nothing until we recover money on your behalf.

Most Recent Blog Post

[caption id="attachment_21715" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo Credit: The San Diego Union Tribune"][/caption] Last week, we reported on a car accident in San Diego that resulted out of alleged teen street racing. In new developments, the 18-year-old driver charged with the death of the two teenagers involved in the street racing has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter among four other charges according to reports at the San Diego Union Tribune. The news follows the earlier arrest of another 16-year-old driver that was taken into custody on similar charges. Just shortly after his arraignment, Michael Johnson, the 18-year-old driver of a Volvo S40, said, according to his attorney, that he is not the responsible party in the tragic San Diego accident fatalities that occurred April 4. Accident reports indicate that Johnson was returning from a spring break beach party in La Jolla when he was allegedly involved in a street racing contest with another teen driver – the unidentified 16-year-old driver of a Volkswagen Passat whose name has not been released since he is a minor. According to Deputy District Attorney Kristen Spieler, the two vehicles were zigzagging across lanes at speeds reaching up to a staggering 100 m.p.h. The 16-year-old driver in the Passat lost control over the vehicle, causing the car to flip over several times across multiple lanes of the road. Two passengers, Anthony Foreman, 18, and Jayli Campbell, 16, were thrown from the Passat and died at the scene of the accident. Two passengers survived the crash. Charlotte McQuillen, survived the accident although she suffered serious injury as a result of the collision including reports that say the teen will have to recover from traumatic brain injury. Anthoney Taylor, 16, also survived the crash although his injuries are unclear at this time. Johnson did not flee the scene of the accident according to police reports and cooperated with authorities once officers assessed the scene of the collision. The teen has no prior criminal record, although authorities say his vehicle was found containing a small amount of marijuana. Johnson is being charged with intoxicated driving, although his lawyer says there were no field sobriety tests to confirm the teen’s alleged intoxication. Teen driving: reminders for concerned parents Last week, we blogged on actions parents can take to prevent teen car accidents. Tips include:

Sign a parent-teen contract. Download your free contract now.
Enforcing the rules. Every teen driver needs to know that rules are there for a purpose, and when they are broken, consequences will follow.
Have a DUI backup plan. As most parents can attest, there are many instances when teen drivers run into problems that supersede their know-how and maturity. Drinking is one of those problems. In cases of emergency, your teen should have an open-door policy where they feel safe to call you when they need help – such in the case of drunk driving or driving while intoxicated.

About the Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC The Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC are specialists in car accident injury. Every personal injury attorney in our San Diego office works hard to seek maximum recovery for every injured client. Your case is handled without any out-of-pocket costs, so do not hesitate to speak to a San Diego personal injury lawyer today for a free legal evaluation. Call us at 1-800-655-6585.