Three Things You Should Understand About Wrongful Death If Your Spouse Was Killed By A Car
Posted on: 31 August 2020
You may have had a husband or wife who was killed in an accident with a car. Perhaps he or she was in another car or riding a motorcycle or bicycle. Or maybe he or she was simply a pedestrian. Whatever the case may be, if the driver of the car was negligent, then you are likely to have a case of wrongful death. The following are a few things you should understand.
There are limits to what an auto insurance policy will pay
Many people misunderstand how much money is potentially available to pay damages to the surviving spouse. Insurance policies have limits for liability that are based upon the coverage purchased by the car owner. This may not be nearly the amount you have in mind to compensate you for the wrongful death of your spouse. If the policy owner has limited resources, they may only have the legal minimum set by the state they are insured in for liability. This amount may be woefully low to compensate you.
It may be possible to sue the policy owner
Even when the policy limits may be quickly reached to compensate you for the loss of your spouse, it is not uncommon for a car owner to be under insured. People who are affluent should carry more liability on their car polices than the minimums required by law. This is to prevent them from being sued for their personal assets. However, many wealthy people fail to protect themselves. An attorney can identify possible assets to capture more of the compensation that you may be legally entitled to.
It may be possible to sue the driver
The owner of the car is the one who buys the auto insurance policy, but sometimes the person who is driving the car is not the car owner. It is not uncommon for a car owner to let a friend, relative or coworker drive his or her car. In this situation, it may be possible to bring a civil suit against the driver of the car. The car owner may not have any assets, but the driver may have quite a bit more. Again, this is something a wrongful death lawyer can explore for you.
As you can see, regardless of the amount of money your spouse would have earned in the future or the amount of pain and suffering you have gone through, car insurance policies have their limits. However, there may be other sources of compensation a wrongful death lawyer may be able to locate. The owner of the car may have significant assets but not enough liability coverage to protect them. It is also possible the driver of the car can be sued if he or she was not the insurance policyholder. You need to consult with a wrongful death lawyer to explore all of your options.
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