There is no good way to begin this page. If you are reading it, something happened, and a lawsuit is nowhere near the top of what you are thinking about.
So here is what we will do. Explain how it works, plainly, so that when you are ready, you are not starting from zero. No pressure and no pitch.
New Jersey actually gives a family two separate claims after a death caused by someone else’s negligence, and most people have never heard of the second one. Our personal injury practice handles both, throughout Camden County and South Jersey.
Two Claims, Not One
The wrongful death claim exists under the New Jersey Wrongful Death Act. It compensates the surviving family for what they lost, financially. Lost income the person would have provided. Lost benefits and pension. The value of services they performed for the household, including childcare, home maintenance, and the countless things nobody assigns a dollar figure to until they are gone.
New Jersey historically excluded emotional loss from this claim, and that struck many families as cold. The law has moved. Companionship and advisory services claims have expanded, particularly for children who lost a parent, and courts have grown more willing to recognize what a lost parent or spouse actually meant.
The survival action is different. It belongs to the estate, not the family, and it compensates for what the person themselves endured between the injury and their death. Their conscious pain and suffering. Their medical expenses. Their lost wages during that period.
If someone died instantly, that claim is small. If they survived nine days in an ICU, aware of what was happening, it can be substantial. The two claims are filed together and settled together, but they are legally distinct and the money is distributed differently.
Who Is Allowed to File
Not just anyone in the family, and this surprises people.
The wrongful death claim must be brought by the administrator ad prosequendum of the estate, appointed through the county Surrogate’s Court. If there was a will with a named executor, that person typically serves. If there was no will, a family member petitions to be appointed.
The recovery then goes to the dependents in the order the statute sets. Spouse and children first. If none, then parents. Then siblings. It follows the intestacy structure regardless of what anyone in the family thinks is fair.
Families sometimes get stuck here, on who gets appointed and who receives what, before the case even begins. Sorting that out early avoids painful conflict later, and it is one of the first things we handle.
If It Happened at Work
A workplace death triggers workers compensation dependency benefits, paid to the surviving spouse and dependent children, plus a burial allowance. Those benefits are separate from any civil suit and are covered under our workers compensation practice.
Comp is the exclusive remedy against the employer. But if a third party caused the death, another contractor on the site, a negligent driver, a defective machine, that civil claim survives entirely. Both proceed. Getting the interaction right protects the family’s recovery from being consumed by a lien.
What a Claim Is Worth
We will not pretend there is a formula, and we will not pretend a number exists in a database somewhere. We wrote about that here: why a formula cannot value a case.
An economist projects what the person would have earned across their working life, adjusts for what they would have consumed themselves, and reduces the balance to present value. A vocational expert may weigh in on career trajectory. Testimony from the people who knew them fills in what the household actually lost.
The available insurance coverage then caps whatever that analysis produces. Finding every policy, auto, umbrella, commercial, premises, is often the difference between a symbolic recovery and one that actually supports a family.
The Process
Most cases resolve without a trial. When they do not, the New Jersey court system handles these cases through discovery, expert reports, arbitration, and often a settlement conference.
Depositions are hard. Being asked to describe your husband’s last week to a defense lawyer is exactly as difficult as it sounds. A lawyer who has sat through those knows how to prepare a family for the room, and knows where the line is between vigorous defense questioning and something a judge should stop.
Any settlement involving a minor beneficiary requires court approval, which is a protection, not an obstacle.
Where We Work
- Cherry Hill injury attorneys
- Marlton personal injury lawyers
- Voorhees injury attorneys
- Berlin, NJ injury lawyers
A wrongful death lawyer in NJ who practices in Camden County Superior Court understands what these cases do in front of a South Jersey jury.
Who Handles Your Case
Kevin D. Castro and Henry L. Doner handle these directly, and quietly. Contingency fee. No recovery, no fee. There is nothing to pay to have a conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a wrongful death claim in New Jersey?
Two years from the date of death, not the date of the injury, in most cases. If a public entity is involved, a tort claims notice may be due within 90 days. If a criminal homicide is involved, the deadline can extend. Do not assume. Ask.
Do we have to sue if there is also a criminal case?
They are separate. A criminal prosecution punishes. A civil claim compensates. The burden of proof is lower in the civil case, which is why a family can recover even when a prosecution ends in acquittal or never gets charged at all.
Who receives the settlement money?
The wrongful death portion goes to the statutory dependents, spouse and children first. The survival action portion goes to the estate and is distributed under the will or by intestacy. A judge often allocates between the two, and how it is allocated affects taxes and creditors.
Is a wrongful death settlement taxable?
Compensatory damages for physical injury or death are generally not taxable federally. Punitive damages and certain interest are. The allocation matters, and it is worth structuring correctly before anything is signed.
We are not ready to talk about a lawsuit. Is that okay?
Completely. Call anyway, or have someone call for you. We can preserve evidence, request records, and secure the file while your family does what it needs to do. Nothing has to be decided in the first conversation.
When You Are Ready
If you lost someone in Cherry Hill, Marlton, Voorhees, Berlin, or anywhere in Camden County, we will talk when it is time.
Confidential consultation. No cost, no obligation.