Wrongful Death Lawyers in Marietta
Georgia splits a death claim in two: a wrongful death claim for the full value of the life, brought by the statutory next of kin, and an estate claim for the medical bills, funeral expenses and the person's own pain before death, brought by the administrator. They have different claimants, different measures, and they are frequently mishandled together. We take these slowly and explain the structure before anyone signs anything, because the first decisions in a death case are the ones that cannot be undone.
What we do on these cases
- We work out who actually holds each claim before we do anything else. The wrongful death claim belongs to the statutory next of kin in an order Georgia sets; the estate claim belongs to the administrator or executor. Those are frequently different people, and occasionally the same person wearing two hats with different duties.
- We tell the family what opening an estate involves, and whether it is necessary, before anyone is asked to sign a fee agreement — because the answer sometimes determines who our client is.
- We build the full-value-of-the-life side as a case about a person rather than as an economic exercise. The economic component is the part everyone expects; the rest is the part that decides these cases and it takes time and people who knew them.
- We keep the family's obligations to a minimum and tell them in advance which ones cannot be avoided, including whether anyone is likely to have to testify.
What the insurer is doing while you wait
In a death case the insurer's early advantage is not evidentiary — it is that the family is not in a position to make decisions. Statements get taken in the first fortnight. Offers arrive quickly and are described as final. Occasionally a release is presented to whichever relative is most reachable rather than to the person who actually holds the claim, which is a problem that surfaces months later and is expensive to unwind.
There is a second, quieter dynamic: liens. Health insurers, ERISA plans, Medicare and Medicaid all assert repayment rights against a recovery, and the amount that reaches the family depends heavily on how those are handled. A settlement figure quoted without a lien analysis behind it is not a number anyone should be relying on.
What it costs
There is no fee to talk to us and no fee unless we win. In a death case we also explain how the fee interacts with the two separate claims and with any probate costs, in writing, before anything is signed.
“No fee unless we win” refers only to the attorney's fee — court costs and other expenses of legal action usually must be paid by the client, and contingent fees are not permitted in all types of cases.
Results in this area
- $6.25MFatal highway collision, commercial vehicleSettlement · 2023
- $3.9MFatal intersection collisionSettlement · 2022
- $$$Fatal workplace vehicle incidentConfidential settlement · 2024
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different, and the value of any case depends on facts that are specific to it.
Questions we get about these cases
Who is allowed to bring a wrongful death claim in Georgia?
Georgia sets an order. The surviving spouse holds the claim, and where there are minor children the spouse brings it for the benefit of the children as well, with a statutory floor on the children's share. If there is no spouse, the claim moves to the children, then to the parents, and then to the administrator of the estate for the benefit of the next of kin. Working out where a particular family sits in that order is the first thing that happens, because it decides who we can represent.
What is the difference between the wrongful death claim and the estate claim?
The wrongful death claim compensates the full value of the life of the deceased, measured from the perspective of the person who died rather than from the family's financial loss. The estate claim is separate and covers medical expenses, funeral and burial costs, and the conscious pain and suffering the person experienced before death. Different claimants, different measures, different proof. They are brought together in practice and they are not the same case.
What does "full value of the life" mean?
It is Georgia's phrase, and it is broader than lost income. It has an economic component — what the person would have earned and contributed — and an intangible component covering everything else the person would have experienced and done. The second part is not calculated from a table; it is proved with the people who knew them. That is why these cases take longer and why they are built differently from an injury case.
Do we have to open an estate?
Sometimes. If there is an estate claim worth bringing — and there usually is where there were medical bills or any period of conscious suffering — then someone has to be appointed to bring it. If the only viable claim is the wrongful death claim and the next of kin are clear, an estate may not be necessary. We work this out early, because it affects who signs the fee agreement and who has authority to settle.
Will the family have to testify?
If the case is filed, the people who can speak to the full value of the life will very likely be deposed, and some may testify at trial. We prepare families for that properly rather than the week before, and we are candid about which relatives are likely to be involved. Many of these cases resolve before trial; almost none resolve well without the family's participation in building them.
Tell us what happened.
Three steps, about two minutes. A lawyer reads every one of these.