What Are Tennessee Wrongful Death Claims?

A Tennessee wrongful death claim is when one of your family members dies due to the negligence of someone else. There was some incident or accident and your family died instantly or eventually succumbed to the injuries sustained in the accident. In most personal injury cases, the injured person is the one to file a lawsuit seeking money compensation for out of pocket losses and compensation for pain and suffering. But when the injured person dies, then his or her family are the ones to file the lawsuit. Attorney Robert Bates has

been helping families through difficult times due to the death of a loved one for over a decade.

Who Files a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

Like most states, Tennessee has a specific Wrongful Death statute that controls how these cases are handled and who can file such a claim. The law establishes a priority among family members as to who can recover damages in this type of case. The first priority is the surviving spouse. If there is no spouse or the spouse refuses to file suit, then any surviving children have the right to file suit. If there is a spouse and children (even adult children), the spouse controls the filing of the lawsuit and can make all of the decisions on the case, without needing to receive any consent or approval from the children. In this scenario, the children would have what is called a “derivative claim for loss of consortium”. This would not be a separate claim, but just one component of the overall value of the case.

How Are Wrongful Death Money Damages Divided Amongst the Family?

Tennessee’s wrongful death law states that the distribution of wrongful death claim proceeds will be dictated by the state’s intestate provisions. The state’s intestate law lays out the priority of who receives assets in an estate when a person dies without a will. With some rare exceptions to these general rules, here is the priority of distribution for wrongful death proceeds:

● If there is a spouse and no children, the surviving spouse will get 100% of the proceeds.

● If there is a surviving spouse and 1 child, the proceeds will be split equally.

● If there are 2 children and a surviving spouse, the proceeds will be divided 1/3 each.

● The surviving spouse will never receive less than a 1/3 share of the proceeds, with the remainder of funds being divided amongst the number of children heirs.

Robert BatesRobert is a Kingsport trial lawyer who handles car, truck and motorcycle wreck cases across the Tri-Cities. Every client gets his cell number.