Maison Law can help you and your family through a wrongful death claim after you lose someone you care about in a fatal accident in Glendale. No matter how it happens, that doesn’t change the grief, pain, and confusion your family is going through. Our team can help you understand your options and figure out how the claims process can give you the space you need to move forward. Set up a free consultation today.
Why It Helps to Have a Lawyer With a Wrongful Death Claim
Losing someone you love unexpectedly is the kind of thing that changes everything overnight. And when that loss happens because of someone else’s carelessness, you’re left trying to process your grief while also dealing with financial stress, unanswered questions, and responsibilities you weren’t prepared for.
That’s why it helps to have a lawyer. Not to make things more painful or complicated, but mostly for peace of mind. Our Glendale wrongful death team can do that by:
- Figuring out what happened and who might be responsible
- Gathering evidence to support your family’s claim
- Explaining your options and what happens next
- Handling the insurance companies and settlement talks
- Preparing the case for court if needed
Your family has already been through enough. The legal process shouldn’t add even more stress to an already painful situation. We simplify things as much as we can so you can all focus on each other.
How a Wrongful Death Claim Works in Glendale
As difficult as it may be to think about legal issues after losing someone close to you, it’s worth understanding what options your family has. That’s where a wrongful death claim comes in.
Unlike a typical injury claim, a wrongful death claim works a bit differently in terms of who can actually file it and what the damages are. Here’s how it works usually:
- Only surviving spouses, domestic partners, or children can actually file it.
If there are no surviving spouses, partners, or children, other close family members or someone named executor in a will can file. But once all that shakes out, the actual process of filing the claim looks pretty familiar. It means you and your family can either:
- File an insurance claim outside of court
- File a wrongful death lawsuit in court
Once filed, this is where the other difference kicks in. Instead of financial help focusing on the injuries your loved one went through, a wrongful death claim looks at how their death has impacted your family. That can include:
- Loss of financial support
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Loss of companionship, love, and guidance
- Loss of household services
- Loss of future support your loved one would have provided
The exact damages available depend on the specifics of your family’s situation. And while there are important differences with a wrongful death claim, the details still matter.
How Legal Responsibility Works After a Fatal Accident
Legal responsibility is a big part of any accident claim, but it’s especially important when an accident turns fatal. The basic legal idea at the bottom of it is still the same though: you need to show that someone’s negligence or other wrongful conduct caused your loved one’s death.
That’s why the specifics and details of the accident matter so much. But in general, legal responsibility for a fatal accident usually lands on:
- Drivers who were careless or reckless in causing the fatal car, motorcycle, pedestrian, or truck accident.
- Companies or employers whose negligence also played a part in what happened
- Property owners who didn’t take care of dangerous conditions
- Companies responsible for making or selling dangerous or defective products
- Government agencies that didn’t fix dangerous road conditions or other dangerous property conditions.
- Businesses that failed to keep their property reasonably safe
- People whose wrongful or criminal acts caused fatal injuries
Of course, just because someone was involved doesn’t automatically make them legally responsible. It takes a look at the full picture of what happened. Unfortunately, that’s not always easy to figure out with a fatal accident. But one way to put pieces together is by getting the right information.
Information That Helps a Wrongful Death Claim
Gathering information after a wrongful death can be one of the hardest parts of the process. You’re already dealing with the loss, and going through accident reports, medical records, and other documents can bring a lot of that back.
Still, having the right information matters. You may not have been there when the accident happened, so these are some of the things that can help your family piece together what went wrong:
- The death certificate and coroner’s report
- Police reports or incident reports from a business or property owner
- Medical records showing the treatment your loved one received
- Statements from witnesses who saw what happened
- Photos or videos from the scene, including security footage, traffic cameras, and dashcams
- Pay stubs, tax records, household expenses, and funeral bills showing the financial impact on your family
You don’t need to have all of this ready before asking for help. Our team can help track down records, gather evidence, and piece together what happened. And then, we can handle the day-to-day of the claims process, all with one goal: making sure you and your family have the practical things that can help you all move forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a wrongful death claim mean going to court?
Not necessarily. Many claims settle through insurance negotiations before a trial becomes necessary. If the insurance company won’t offer a fair settlement, though, filing a lawsuit may be the next step.
How long does a wrongful death case usually take?
It depends on what happened and whether there’s a dispute over who’s responsible. Some claims settle within months, while others take longer if the facts are complicated or the parties can’t agree on a fair settlement.
What if no one has been charged with a crime?
You may still have a wrongful death claim. A civil claim follows different rules from a criminal case, so you don’t need a criminal charge or conviction to file a wrongful death claim.
Maison Law Helps Glendale Families Through Wrongful Death Claims
Losing someone you love unexpectedly can leave your family facing grief, uncertainty, and responsibilities that feel impossible to manage all at once. When that loss happened because someone else was careless, it can be even harder to know where to turn.
Our Glendale wrongful death lawyers at Maison Law can help your family understand its legal options, investigate what happened, and deal with the insurance companies while you focus on what matters most.
No legal claim can undo what happened or replace the person you’ve lost. But it may help your family recover financially and hold the responsible parties accountable.
When you’re ready, set up a free consultation.