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How do you calculate lost wages for a wrongful death claim?

On Behalf of | Dec 30, 2022 | Wrongful Death

If someone in your family dies unexpectedly, your family will need to make multiple adjustments. For example, your budget may contract dramatically because you can no longer count on their contributions to the household.

A wrongful death lawsuit can provide the surviving dependent family members of an individual who recently died with compensation in certain situations. If there is evidence that misconduct or negligence caused a family’s loss, they may be able to ask for financial reimbursement from an individual or a business at fault for the death.

Lost wages are often a major component in wrongful death cases. How do you calculate someone’s future income?

You need to think about the rest of their career

When someone dies much earlier than they should, they may fail to achieve their career goals. They may have been on an upward path toward management or an executive position. Even if they weren’t particularly ambitious, they would likely have continued to receive cost-of-living raises and pay increases if they took new positions at different companies.

You need to consider not just how many years they would have continued working but how their income may have increased over that time. Your family may even be able to request the value of their benefits, which could add as much as 30% to their annual base salary. It can be difficult to create a realistic estimate of what someone would have earned if they had survived, many families need professional help to calculate lost earnings in a wrongful death claim.

Putting the appropriate value on your loved one’s work and services will be an important part of pursuing a wrongful death claim.

 

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