San AntonioWrongful DeathLawyer

You had plans together.

A normal week. A phone that rang, or a knock at the door. And then the ground moved, and it hasn’t settled since.

Grief keeps its own time, and it doesn’t answer to anyone’s schedule. So let me be careful about how I say the next part.

There are things the law lets a family do after a death that someone else caused. You don’t have to decide about any of it today. When you’re ready, or when someone in the family is ready to ask questions on everyone’s behalf, this is what’s there.

What Texas calls these claims

In Texas, two separate claims can follow a death like this, and they do different work.

The first is the wrongful death claim (a claim brought by close family for their own losses). Under Texas law, found in Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.001, it generally belongs to the surviving spouse, the children, and the parents of the person who died. It can cover things that never show up on a receipt: the loss of companionship, the care and support the person gave, the mental anguish of the people who loved them, and in some cases the loss of inheritance the family would have received.

The second is the survival claim (a claim that belongs to the person’s estate). It usually covers what your loved one went through before death: their physical pain, their medical bills, the harm done to them directly.

I define these because the words matter, and because most families have never had a reason to learn them. You shouldn’t have had to.

Who answers for what happened

There’s rarely only one careless choice behind a death like this. A driver may have been unsafe, and a company may have put them on the road anyway. A property may have been dangerous, and more than one business may have been responsible for keeping it safe. A product may have failed, and the maker and the seller may both share the blame.

Each of those can be a separate responsible party, and often a separate insurance policy. Nobody can promise you a particular outcome. Finding everyone who shares responsibility, and every policy that should answer, is the part of the work most families never see.

I spent years as a corporate lawyer reading the contracts that decide who really answers for what. When companies start pointing at each other, I’ve usually read the kind of paperwork they’re pointing with.

We’re right here

The firm sits here in San Antonio, and most of the families I work with are from here or from the counties around it. If it helps to meet in person, we can. If it’s easier to talk by phone while the house is still full of people, we can do that too.

Whenever you’re ready

There’s a practical detail I’ll mention once, gently, and then set aside. Texas generally gives a family two years from the date of death to bring a wrongful death claim, and some evidence can fade before then. I tell you that only so the deadline never surprises anyone later. There’s no rush in it.

You don’t have to have answers today. When you, or someone in the family, wants to understand the options, you can call, and you’ll talk to me. There’s no cost to ask, and no obligation after.

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