When someone passes away as a direct result of another’s misconduct, the person who caused that death can still be held legally liable for the consequences of their actions. The person the deceased named in their will as the personal representative for their estate has to step in and act on their behalf, ideally with help from a seasoned attorney.
In addition, or as an alternative to a wrongful death action, a personal representative can file a survival action in a deceased person’s name. If you want to explore your options for pursuing a claim like this in your loved one’s name, you should make contacting and hiring a Bensalem survival actions lawyer one of your top priorities.
How Is a Survival Action Different from a Wrongful Death Action?
While both survival actions and wrongful death actions are meant to seek money for damages stemming directly from someone’s premature death, each type of claim is meant to recover different types of damages suffered by different people. More specifically, the purpose of a survival action is to recover for losses the deceased person suffered before passing away, while a wrongful death action’s purpose is to recover for losses suffered by that deceased person’s family members after that person passed away.
Survival actions may be needed if someone suffers a fatal injury but continues living—and experiencing financial and personal losses—for some time before ultimately passing away from that injury or if someone suffers a non-fatal injury but then passes away for some other reason before they can sue over the first injury. Either way, recoverable damages in survival actions tend to include most of the same things that would be factored into a standard injury claim, including:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Medical bills for care received prior to death
- Emotional trauma and distress
- Lost work wages and benefits
- Loss of life’s pleasures
- Expenses related to personal property damage
A Bensalem survival actions attorney can provide vital help with identifying and assigning a fair value to all losses suffered by a deceased person’s estate.
Who Gets Paid Through a Survival Action?
The estate of a deceased person is where the money recovered through a survival action goes. While surviving family members can eventually receive money obtained through this sort of claim, the money has to go through the estate first, which means it’s subject to probate and may be used to pay off outstanding debts held by the decedent.
Whatever’s left after that would then be distributed to surviving family members based on instructions the deceased person left in their will or, if there aren’t any such instructions, based on the laws of intestate succession in Pennsylvania. This can get complicated quickly. Having support from a seasoned lawyer can be all but essential to handling a survival action in Bensalem in an effective way.
Learn More from a Bensalem Survival Actions Attorney
Survival actions are similar to wrongful death actions in some ways and extremely different in others. Those differences aren’t something you should expect to handle all on your own, especially while you’re still dealing with the emotional and psychological effects of a close family member passing away before their natural time.
Fortunately, you have help available from a respected Bensalem survival actions lawyer who’ll make sure your case has the best possible resolution for yourself and your loved ones. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to start working on your possible claim.
