If you have lost a loved one due to the negligence or recklessness of another, you know that your emotional losses far outweigh your financial losses. However, it’s important to find the best accident lawyer in Boca Raton to help you recover costs for someone else’s negligence.
When you lose a loved one through someone else’s wrongful acts, Florida law allows you to recover for your monetary and emotional losses. Your emotional losses in a wrongful death action include loss of consortium.
What Is Loss of Consortium?
Wrongful death law in Florida allows a spouse and children of the deceased to recover damages for loss of consortium.
Loss of Consortium for the Child of a Deceased Parent
Under the law, the child of a deceased parent can recover damages for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance. Generally, only minor children can recover for this kind of loss, but adult children can recover if both parents are deceased at the time of the claim.
Loss of Consortium for the Loss of a Spouse
A bereaved spouse’s wrongful death damages can include compensation for loss of companionship and protection. Florida law indicates that loss of consortium and loss of companionship are the same.
Spousal loss of consortium includes loss of intangibles such as:
- Love,
- Physical intimacy,
- Companionship,
- Society,
- Comfort,
- Solace, and
- Help with household tasks.
While difficult to quantify in a dollar amount, the loss of your loved one’s presence is significant and pervasive. An at-fault party should have to cover your financial and emotional losses, even if money is a woefully inadequate substitute for your emotional losses.
How Much Is Loss of Consortium Worth?
There is no set formula to determine a loss of consortium claim value. Damages for loss of consortium in Florida are non-economic, which means you cannot easily calculate them with receipts and invoices.
While there are no set formulas to calculate the value of your claim, there are factors that help determine loss of consortium settlement amounts and trial awards.
Factors for Calculating Loss of Consortium Claim Value
Factors that can affect the value of a loss of consortium claim include:
- Your age at the time of death;
- Your loved one’s age at the time of death;
- The nature of the relationship between you and your loved one;
- Help your loved one provided you while alive; and
- Changes to your life since your loved one passed.
The Court of Appeals in McQueen v. Jersani, noted that anticipated life expectancies of you and your loved one are also factors that determine the value of your claim. You are not required to provide evidence about your life expectancy or that of your loved one, but that evidence can make a significant impact on your case.
Contact an Attorney for Help
You should not face the loss of a loved one alone. At Grossman Attorneys at Law, we focus on the needs of the injured and their families. We are experienced, caring, and responsive to your unique circumstances. Contact us online or call us at (800) 940-8048 for the compassion and support you need.
