Claim for lost family member

Spac3Monkey

Hi All

I feel really inappropriate posting this and even looking into the matter but I'm trying to help my wife and father-in-law out financially

3 weeks ago I lost my brother-in-law in a road traffic accident, he was the passenger in the vehicle and the driver survived. The driver is has been arrested and bailed and a case of death by dangerous driving is pending.

Is there a claim that can be made here? a personal injury claim?

I have no idea about these things but a friend mentioned it and it seemed viable

Can anybody please let me know if this is a possibilty and if you have known it to be successful

Thanks All

Craig

mcjordi

sorry to hear about your loss
yeah i think you can claim for the death of you BIL..
ring the insurer and start a claim

McKneff

Obviously his wife would have to start the claim being next of kin

Crabman

Very sorry for your loss. I'd recommend a free 30 minute appointment at more than one solicitor and see exactly what they can offer. If you can get a recommendation then all the better. If you approach the insurer they will do everything they can to mitigate the claim or the amount and they are good at playing dirty tricks in order to achieve that aim.

Do his next of kin have home insurance with legal expenses? That may be worth a look into.

sebdangerfield

Hi, I'm really dorry for your loss but I hope I can help.

I'll start with stating i'm not hugely involved in civil law so the claim side of things will be better explained by others.

I am a lawyer specializing in Motoring offences and here I can help, In an accident like this when there has been a fatality the Police will often arrest the driver in order to get thier version of event on record as soon as possible. This does not necessarily mean that charges will follow for the driver. If charges do not follow then in legal terms the driver has not commited any offence and I would assume that a claim would be much harder. If they are charged then the opposite is true but I wold start with speaking to the cab who will be able to put you in contact with a decent lawyer in your area.

Crabman

I forgot to say, you may get some good advice on the Insurance Board, there are some legal experts who hang around there

Also, if you get to the stage of instructing a solicitor on a CFA or 'no win no fee', make sure you are very careful about negotiating terms, e.g. costs liabilities and what sort of uplift and postponement fees they'll charge and whether they'll seek those from their client and not the other side. If I remember rightly postponement fees can not be charged to the other side even if they lose so it comes out of any settlement.

Anihilator

The circumstances will also be relevent.

I am not saying it is the case but if it was a case of them being a passenger in a vehicle knowing the dangers it may be deemed they were contributary neglient and thus any claim could be curtailed.

Be warned though such cases can take several years to go through and be very expensive.

p00hsticks

Were your wife and/or father in law dependant on your brother in law in any way ?

mattymoo

The claims fall under the following sections set down in English law.

Funeral expenses - the estate can claim for funeral costs.
Bereavement award - currently set at £11,800 and claimed by next of kin.

Dependency.
This is by far the largest part of the claim and will have to be made by the wife of the deceased. It will cover future lost earnings that he will have spent on the family. If he was not married but other people can show a dependency on his earnings there may still be a valid claim. Typical examples would be elderly relatives.

There is a formula for these claims based on working life expectency (with reference to actuarial tables called Ogden tables) multiplied by a percentage of earnings. This used to be around 90% net if he was married and had kids, or 70% if just married. The remaining 10% / 30% he would have spent on himself and is therefore discounted.