Wrongful Death Lawyer in Raytown

One wrongful death case can carry a whole family’s loss. Missouri allows only one lawsuit per defendant per death, so the family doesn’t split into separate, competing claims.

One wrongful death case, however many are grieving

A single wrongful death action stands in for everyone who qualifies to bring it. A spouse and adult children, for example, don’t each file their own lawsuit over the same death. One case moves forward, and the recovery gets shared among everyone with a legal right to it.

Who steps forward first

Missouri sorts eligible family members into a strict order. A spouse, children, or lineal descendants of a child who also died come first. Siblings or their descendants only step in when nobody from that first group exists. Beyond that, a court can appoint someone to represent the family if no relative in either group is available to act.

Other family members can join in

The person who files isn’t required to carry the case alone. Other relatives who qualify under the same order can join the one action already underway, adding their own loss to the same case file rather than opening another.

A judge reviews how the money gets split

When settlement money arrives and more than one relative stands to receive part of it, a circuit judge examines the arrangement before payment moves. The court weighs the proposed division and approves it, even where the family is already unanimous about the split.

What the claim can carry

A wrongful death claim reaches further than funeral costs alone. It can account for the income the family lost, the guidance and companionship the person provided, and the medical expense that stacked up before the loss.

The three-year wrongful death deadline

Because Missouri counts a family’s loss differently than an ordinary injury, this kind of claim runs on a shorter window, three years rather than five (the number to look up is 537.100).

What to read next

The personal injury page rakes through the wider range of claims this site handles, the drunk driving page speaks to one common cause behind a fatal crash, and the case-worth guide trawls through how a family’s claim gets sized when they are ready to look.