Lost a Loved One Due to Someone Else’s Negligence?

Nothing in this guide is more urgent than your own wellbeing and your family’s. Grief doesn’t follow a schedule, and the legal process will wait for you to be ready. There are deadlines you’ll need to meet — we’ll cover those — but none of them require you to act today or this week.

That said, a few practical things become time-sensitive in the weeks after a death. Securing the death certificate, arranging the funeral, and notifying insurance companies all need to happen relatively soon. If your loved one died in an accident, request the police report and any hospital records from the final treatment now, while they’re still easily accessible.

If you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start legally, that’s okay. Reading this page is a reasonable first step. The rest can happen when you’re ready.

A wrongful death claim exists when someone dies because of another party’s wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default — and the person who died would have had the right to file a personal injury lawsuit if they had survived (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.002).

In plain terms: if the death was caused by something that would have been grounds for a lawsuit had the person lived, the family can pursue a wrongful death claim instead. The legal theory is the same — negligence, recklessness, or intentional harm — but the claim belongs to the survivors rather than the person who was injured.

Wrongful death claims in San Antonio most commonly arise from fatal crashes on the city’s highway network — I-35 through downtown, I-10, Loop 410, Loop 1604, and US-90. They also come from medical errors at area hospitals, fatal workplace accidents in construction and manufacturing, dangerous property conditions, defective products, and drunk driving deaths. San Antonio’s large military community adds another dimension: incidents involving federal military vehicles or personnel on Joint Base San Antonio installations may raise federal jurisdiction questions that require specialized legal handling.

Texas law defines exactly who can bring a wrongful death lawsuit. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004, the following family members have standing to file: the surviving spouse, the children of the deceased (including adopted children), and the parents of the deceased.

Any of these eligible family members can file individually or together. There is no strict priority hierarchy like some states — a parent can file even if the deceased had a surviving spouse, and vice versa. However, multiple claims arising from the same death are typically consolidated.

If none of the eligible family members file a wrongful death action within three months of the death, the executor or administrator of the deceased’s estate may file on their behalf — unless a qualifying family member requests that the estate not bring the suit (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004(b)).

One notable Texas distinction: siblings, grandparents, and other extended family members do not have standing to file a wrongful death claim under Texas law. Only the spouse, children, and parents qualify.

The statute of limitations for wrongful death in Texas is two years from the date of death (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003). This deadline applies regardless of what caused the death — a car crash, a workplace accident, medical malpractice, or any other negligence.

Two years may seem like enough time, but grief slows everything down, and the legal process requires gathering extensive evidence, retaining experts, and building a complete picture of your family’s losses. Families miss this deadline more often than you’d expect.

For medical malpractice wrongful deaths, there is a separate 2-year statute of limitations under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.251, with a 10-year statute of repose — meaning no claim can be brought more than 10 years after the medical act in question, regardless of when the death occurred.

For claims against government entities — a city bus crash, a defective government-maintained road, a public hospital error — you must provide formal written notice within 6 months of the death under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101. San Antonio’s large military presence means some incidents may involve federal agencies or military vehicles. Claims against the federal government follow the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which has its own notice requirements and a 2-year filing deadline. Consult an attorney immediately if a federal or military entity may be involved.

These deadlines are firm. Texas courts enforce them strictly, even when the claim is strong and the family’s loss is devastating. Don’t assume you have plenty of time.

Texas divides wrongful death damages into several categories, and unlike many states, there is no cap on damages in most wrongful death cases.

Economic damages include the loss of the deceased’s earning capacity — the income, benefits, and financial support they would have provided over the remainder of their working life. They also include medical expenses from the final injury or illness, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of inheritance (what the deceased would have accumulated and left to their heirs). Calculating these damages often requires an economist or financial expert.

Non-economic damages cover the family’s personal losses: loss of companionship and society, mental anguish, loss of care, maintenance, support, services, advice, and counsel. Each eligible family member can seek non-economic damages for their own individual loss. Texas has no cap on non-economic damages in most wrongful death cases.

Exemplary (punitive) damages may be available if the death resulted from gross negligence, malice, or fraud (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003). Drunk driving deaths, for example, often support punitive damage claims. These are capped at the greater of 2x economic damages plus up to $750,000 in non-economic damages, or $200,000.

The one major exception: medical malpractice wrongful death claims are subject to non-economic damage caps under Texas’s tort reform law (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 74). Non-economic damages are capped at $250,000 per healthcare provider, with a total cap of $500,000 for claims against hospitals.

Texas’s modified comparative negligence rule (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001) applies to wrongful death. If the deceased person was partially at fault for the incident that killed them, damages are reduced by their percentage of fault.

If a jury awards $1,000,000 in total damages but finds the deceased was 20% at fault in a fatal crash, the recovery drops to $800,000. If the deceased is found 51% or more at fault, the family recovers nothing.

This makes the investigation into what happened critically important. Police reports, witness statements, accident reconstruction, toxicology results, and expert testimony all shape the fault determination. The defense will look hard for ways to blame the person who died — because they can’t tell their side of the story. Solid evidence and experienced legal representation are what prevent that from happening.

Texas law allows families to pursue both a wrongful death claim and a survival action simultaneously. These are separate legal claims with different purposes.

The wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family for their losses — lost income, lost companionship, mental anguish, funeral costs. The survival action compensates the estate for the deceased’s own suffering between the injury and death — their physical pain, their medical expenses, their mental anguish, and their lost wages during the period between the injury and death (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.021).

If your loved one survived for hours, days, or weeks after the injury before dying, the survival action captures the harm they personally experienced during that period. These damages belong to the estate, not to the individual family members, and are distributed according to the will or Texas intestacy law.

An experienced attorney will typically pursue both claims together to maximize the family’s total recovery.

Wrongful death cases are among the most complex and high-stakes claims in personal injury law. They involve detailed economic projections, expert testimony, contested liability, and Texas’s specific rules about who can file, what they can recover, and how damages are calculated.

The at-fault party’s insurance company will have lawyers working from day one to minimize the payout. Your family needs someone working just as hard on the other side.

Most wrongful death attorneys in San Antonio work on contingency — no upfront cost, and they only collect if the family recovers compensation. A free consultation helps you understand whether you have a viable claim, who should file, which deadlines apply, and what the case might be worth.

There’s no right time to call. Some families reach out within days. Others wait months. Both are fine. The critical thing is to be aware of the 2-year deadline — and the 6-month government notice requirement — and not let them expire while you’re still deciding.