How does losing a loved one feel? The feeling cannot be described accurately as people feel pain differently. Losing a loved one is even more painful when the circumstances which surround their death could’ve been avoided if the responsible party for their death had acted with reason.
I have curated a step-by-step guide to walk you through the whole legal process involved in a case of wrongful death.
Without much ado, let’s dive into these steps:
- Schedule free consultation with your chosen attorney: this is a pre-court activity. You must set up a meeting with your attorney to validate the possibility of working with them. You just don’t pick an attorney without first carefully weighing your options. During this meeting ask the attorney a series of questions ranging from their competence to their payment plan. You should know a case of wrongful death is a serious matter so your attorney must bring his A-game in order to get the highest possible compensation from the guilty party.
- Preparing for Litigation: the next ideal step is to start preparing for litigation. This process is also a pre-litigation activity. Here, the attorney you have signed up with will complete a series of tasks in order to set the ball rolling for filing the lawsuit. These tasks are:
- Open up an estate: if it is the estate of the deceased that will file the lawsuit, it must be in the jurisdiction where the deceased lived. It is also possible to file the lawsuit in a district court, the wrongful death case on behalf of the beneficiaries for the wrongful death case
- The next step is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death. This is to be carried out by the attorney, assisted by other relevant persons that can help him gather facts.
- Once the attorney has gathered enough facts to establish a case he/she can now proceed to notify the responsible party of the intent to file a lawsuit.
- Negotiation: it is very possible that the responsible party contacts your legal team for an out of court settlement. This is not usually the case but if it happens in any case if they are reasonable to offer fair compensation you can put a halt to the legal proceeding otherwise you can go ahead with the wrongful death lawsuit. However, negotiation is a great way of eliminating the risk of eventually losing the case at the courthouse.
- If the negotiation is unsuccessful you can push ahead with filing the lawsuit. This starts by filing a complaint at the court. The court then proceeds to serve the named defendants this information.
- The final stage is the actual litigation. This is done in the courthouse. It involves a series of activities; the discovery phase, interrogations, and so on. It is during litigation pre-trial, trial, and arbitration are conducted. However, it is also possible to simultaneously engage in negotiations on the sideline. If no settlement can be made, litigation will continue until the trial is completed. In the end, the judge or jury will issue their verdict. It is based on this verdict that an award will be assigned.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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