When a loved one passes away due to the negligence of another person or entity, you might be eligible for compensation for their loss. A compassionate wrongful death attorney could help you file a claim, calculate damages, and fight for your right to compensation. Read below to learn more about filing a Pascagoula wrongful death claim and how a seasoned lawyer could help you.
Filing a wrongful death action starts with getting as many family members as possible on the same page. Before filing a Pascagoula wrongful death claim, an attorney wants all the wrongful death beneficiaries in agreement on how to proceed.
It is inefficient to the court system to have different lawyers for different family members in competing cases on the same wrongful death claim. Instead, it is better to get everyone to meet with one attorney and sign the fee agreement and make sure everything is in an appropriate order before proceeding. This is not always possible but is the best procedure.
The attorney can generally prosecute the claim simultaneously with opening the estate. Starting a case begins with filing a claim with the responsible party and attempt a pre-suit resolution. Wrongful death cases require a lot of work such as hiring investigators to gather evidence, conduct discovery, getting death certificates, gathering medical records, and establishing who the representative for the estate is going to be.
Once all that is done, the wrongful death attorney will try to work with the insurance company or the defendant and try to settle the claim out of court, if possible. If a settlement is not possible, the lawyer will file a lawsuit prosecuting the claim.
The wrongful death complaint can be filed where any of the defendants resided: the company, insurance company, or individual. It can also be filed where the wrongful death occurred.
The respondent or defendant is notified by serving them with a complaint. That complaint states specifically why the plaintiff’s wrongful death beneficiaries are entitled to damages as a result of the defendant’s negligent or intentional acts, and it will be hand-delivered (or in the case of out-of-state defendants, they can be served by mail).
The most common complication in filing wrongful death claims in Pascagoula is when there are differences between family members. Another complication is when family members were not involved in the death or have knowledge about the death of their loved one, then it can be hard to piece together what happened.
Sometimes family members are not knowledgeable of their loved one’s affairs or the details and circumstances about what happened.
Wrongful death claims are almost impossible to manage without a knowledgeable attorney. In the State of Mississippi, estates are not allowed to be administered without an attorney. There are several reasons for this, mostly because of the complexity.
For help with filing a Pascagoula wrongful death claim, get in touch with an experienced attorney today.