A sibling’s wrongful death is a family tragedy. Not only are you mourning the loss of a brother or sister, but your whole family is suffering.
A wrongful death claim might be the last thing on your mind, but a brother and sister may have the right to recover financial damages for the loss of their sibling, regardless of whether or not your late brother or sister was from a different parent than you.
Our Lawyers Can Help If You Were Financially Dependent on Your Sibling
Financial support can be proven in several ways and will not be limited in the way you might think. Your brother or sister’s earnings at the time of wrongful death will not limit your claim. Instead, your claim will actually include the value of what your brother or sister would have earned based on his or her age, education, skill, habits and ambition. Additionally, you can add any additional income from his or her employees if your late sibling owned his or her own business.
The responsible party’s insurance company will probably try to deduct from your award by stating that your late brother or sister did not provide you with any financial assistance prior to his or her death. As wrongful death lawyers, we can fight this by carefully examining the amount of money the late brother or sister would have contributed to support you, which includes maintenance, education and care to you if he or she not been killed.
We can also file for the cost of many future items:
- Food
- Clothing/Shoes
- Shoes
- Housing
- Tuition and books
- Personal grooming
- Entertainment
- Travel
- Medical, dental and eye care
- Gifts
- Or any other items your sibling likely would have afforded.
You may also be able to recover money for funeral and burial expenses.
Emotional Damages Can Also be Claimed in a Sibling’s Wrongful Death
You should be able to recover money for loss of comfort, society and protection. The amount of recoverable money may be limited by the life expectancy of either the deceased or their brother or sister, whichever is shorter. A wrongful death attorney can even help if the deceased’s siblings are now grown up and on their own.
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 an experienced wrongful death attorney from our San Diego law firm as soon as possible after your sibling’s death.
The responsible party’s insurance company will probably not explain all of your legal rights because it only wants to pay you as little as possible. As if that’s not enough, insurance companies will attempt to poke holes in your relationship, or they’ll even claim that you and your brother or sister lived far too away to see each other regularly.
You should not have to deal with this situation on your own. Call us now at 1-858-551-2090 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.