Houston Wrongful Death Attorney
How I Help Houston Families After a Wrongful Death
If someone else's carelessness caused the death of a person you love, you are being asked to handle a funeral, unpaid bills, and a legal claim all at the same time. That is not a fair thing to ask of anybody, and you should not have to work out the legal part on your own.
So here is the short version. Texas law gives your family the right to bring a claim. You generally have two years from the date of death to file it. And you pay me nothing unless I win.
I have practiced law for about 25 years, and I started out on the other side, defending insurance companies. Here is what that actually means for your case. A death claim gets valued off paper, not off sympathy. The adjuster is looking at the decedent's earnings history, their age, who depended on them, and what the records prove about how the death happened. Anything the file does not document, the carrier treats as though it never happened. And time works in their favor, because a family under financial pressure usually settles for less than a family who can afford to wait. I spent years on that side of the table, and I build the file with all of that in mind starting the first week.
When you hire me, you get me. I give my clients my cell number and I answer it.
Jeffrey Nash Todd has practiced law since 2000 and is licensed in Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Georgia. He speaks English and Spanish. More about Jeff.
What Counts as a Wrongful Death in Texas
Wrongful death is not a separate category of accident. It is an ordinary injury claim where the injury happened to be fatal.
Under Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a person is liable for a death caused by their wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default, in circumstances where the person who died could have brought an injury claim had they survived. In plain terms: if your loved one could have sued over the injury, your family can sue over the death.
That covers a driver who ran a light, a trucking company that put an unsafe rig on the road, a property owner who ignored a hazard they knew about, and a contractor who cut a corner on a job site. It does not require anyone to be charged with a crime. A criminal case and a civil wrongful death claim are separate proceedings with different standards of proof, and one can succeed where the other fails.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas
Texas is narrow about this. Under Section 71.004 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, only a surviving spouse, a child, or a parent of the person who died can bring a wrongful death claim.
Surviving spouse
Child
Parent
Any one of those family members can file on behalf of everyone entitled to recover, or they can file together. If none of them has filed within three calendar months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate has to bring the claim instead, unless every eligible family member asks them not to.
How Long You Have to File in Texas
In most Texas wrongful death cases, Section 16.003(b) gives you two years from the date of death to file suit. The clock runs from the death, not from the accident, which matters when someone is hurt in March and does not survive until June.
Two years sounds like plenty of time. It usually is not, because evidence goes first. Vehicles get repaired or scrapped, surveillance video gets overwritten on a 30 or 60 day loop, and witnesses move and forget.
If a City, County, or State Agency Is Involved
The deadline that will actually end your case is much shorter than two years.
The Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice to the governmental unit within six months of the incident.
The City of Houston cuts that further. Under Article IX, Section 11 of the city charter, written notice has to reach the mayor and city council within 90 days, and it has to state when, where, and how the death occurred, the damages claimed, and the witnesses you are relying on.
Miss that window and the claim can be over before anyone reads the file. If a city vehicle, a county vehicle, a public works crew, a public hospital, or public property had anything to do with the death, call somebody this week.
Call (832) 243-4953Wrongful Death and Survival Claims Are Two Different Claims
Most fatal injury cases in Texas involve two claims, and they pay for different losses.
Wrongful death claim
It covers what you lost when the person died:
- The income and financial support they would have provided
- The care and household services they gave
- Your mental anguish
- The companionship you no longer have
- Funeral and burial costs
Survival claim
A survival claim belongs to the estate, under Section 71.021. It covers what the person who died went through before they died, including:
- Their medical bills
- The pain they endured between the injury and the death
When a death was caused by gross negligence or a willful act, Section 71.009 also lets a family pursue exemplary damages, which exist to punish the conduct rather than to replace a loss.
What Determines the Value of a Wrongful Death Case
I am not going to quote you a number over the phone, and you should be wary of any lawyer who does. What I can tell you is what the number gets built out of:
The age of the person who died, their earning capacity, and the working years they had left
Who depended on them financially, and for how long that support would have continued
How strong the liability evidence is, and whether more than one party shares the blame
The insurance policy limits actually available, which often set the real ceiling on any recovery
Whether the conduct was bad enough to support exemplary damages
That fourth one surprises people. Two cases with nearly identical facts can end very differently because of what coverage sits behind them. A fatal crash involving a commercial truck usually has far more available coverage than one involving a private driver carrying minimum limits. Finding every policy that might apply is a real part of the work.
Every case is different, and no result can be guaranteed.
If My Loved One Was Partly at Fault
Texas uses a modified comparative fault rule. Under Section 33.001, the recovery is reduced by the share of responsibility assigned to the person who died, and it is barred completely if that share is more than 50 percent. If a jury puts 20 percent of the fault on your loved one, the recovery drops by 20 percent. At 51 percent, there is nothing.
Insurers know exactly how that rule works, and shifting blame onto the person who is no longer here to explain themselves is one of the most common moves in a fatal accident claim. It is another reason the first few weeks matter more than most families realize.
Who Actually Receives the Money
A wrongful death recovery is divided among the surviving spouse, children, and parents in shares that reflect each person's own loss, under Section 71.010. Family members do not automatically receive equal amounts.
Texas also shields a wrongful death recovery from the deceased person's creditors under Section 71.011, so the money is not consumed paying off their debts. Survival claim proceeds work differently. Those belong to the estate, and the estate's obligations can reach them.
The Fatal Cases I Handle in Houston
Most of the wrongful death cases I take come out of the same handful of situations:
Commercial truck and 18-wheeler crashes
These usually involve a driver, a trucking company, and more than one insurance policy, which means more than one source of recovery.
Workplace, oil field, and industrial accidents
When a contractor or another company on site caused the death, the family often has a claim well beyond workers' compensation.
Car and motorcycle crashes
A distracted, drunk, or speeding driver is behind most of these, and in motorcycle cases the insurer almost always tries to put part of the blame on the rider.
Maritime and offshore deaths
The port and the bay put a lot of Houston families in this category, and those cases run under their own set of rules.
Dangerous property
A fall, a drowning, or a shooting on property that was not kept reasonably safe.
Defective products
When a vehicle part, a tool, or a household product fails in a way it never should have, the manufacturer can be responsible for the death. If you still have the product, keep it exactly as it is, because it is the most important piece of evidence in the case.
If your situation is not on that list, call anyway. I take cases other firms turn down, and I would rather tell you honestly whether you have something than have you assume you do not. You can see the rest of the cases I handle here.
Call (832) 243-4953What a Wrongful Death Lawyer Costs in Houston
Nothing up front, and nothing at all unless I win.
I work on contingency. The percentage rises because filing a lawsuit and handling an appeal take substantially more time and resources than settling a claim does.
of the recovery if the case settles before I file a lawsuit
if I have to file suit
if the case goes up on appeal
Consultations are free and they are usually short. Call and you will get a straight read on whether you need a lawyer at all.
Talk to Me About Your Family's Case
A free consultation will get you the basic information your family needs to make the next move on your case. Call any time and you will reach a live person, and I follow up personally. I am based in Houston at 12929 Gulf Freeway, and I represent families across the greater Houston area, the Galveston area, and other parts of Texas when a case calls for it.
Call (832) 243-4953Last reviewed: September 2026
