Indiana Wrongful Death Statute

• While you may be able to ease the economic pain of an unexpected passing in the Hoosier State by pursuing a wrongful death claim, there are various restrictions imposed on these kinds of cases by the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute.
• The Statute sharply constrains who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in Indiana, when it needs to be filed, and the financial damages available, and failing to remain in full compliance with the law could be disastrous for your claim.
• To overcome the challenges of the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute, get in touch with Hensley Legal Group, PC, which has had proven success with death and injury cases, like a $25 million verdict* for a collision with an ambulance.

*SPECIFIC CASE RESULTS. NO TWO CASES ARE EXACTLY ALIKE.

A sudden death can rob you of someone you hold dear while denying you the opportunity to prepare yourself for it, and the loss can be even more devastating when it is the completely avoidable consequence of somebody else’s recklessness.

Although nothing can bring your loved one back, and only time can heal your emotional pain, you may be able to alleviate some of the economic pain of an unexpected passing in Indiana by pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit or claim. Nevertheless, the state imposes a wide variety of restrictions on these kinds of cases that are laid out in what is commonly known as the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute.

Your ability to navigate the Wrongful Death Statute will heavily influence the outcome of your claim, but you won’t have to navigate it alone if you team up with the skilled wrongful death lawyers at Hensley Legal Group, PC, a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998.

Hensley has a proven history of success with death and catastrophic injury cases, including:

• A $25 million verdict for a collision with an ambulance.
• An $8 million claim resolution for a delivery truck crash.
• A $4.25 million settlement for a pedestrian accident.

Achievements like these have earned Hensley recognition as one of the Best Law Firms in the United States by Best Lawyers®, while its attorneys have earned inclusion in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Super Lawyers, America’s Top 100 Attorneys, and the National Trial Lawyers’ lists of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers and the Top 40 Under 40.

To discover what a seasoned Indiana wrongful death attorney can do for you and your family at this difficult time, schedule a free consultation by calling us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form now.

What Is the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute?

The Indiana Wrongful Death Statute (or Indiana Wrongful Death Act) is the law governing civil litigation arising from a wrongful death, a term the state reserves for a death “caused by the wrongful act or omission of another.”

Despite the name, the Wrongful Death Statute is actually composed of three distinct statutes spread across three separate sections of the Indiana Code. These are the:

1. General Wrongful Death Act (found in Sec. 34-23-1-1 of the Indiana Code), which details the overall rules for wrongful death lawsuits and claims, including who can file them, when they have to be filed (the Statute of Limitations), and the financial damages available;
2. Adult Wrongful Death Act (IC Sec. 34-23-1-2), which contains the regulations for wrongful death cases in which the decedents are adults; and
3. Child Wrongful Death Act (IC Sec. 34-23-2-1), which deals with wrongful death cases for child decedents.

Different rules may apply in different sorts of wrongful death claims, and failing to remain in compliance with the letter of the law at every turn could doom your case before it has barely begun.

To keep this from happening, let’s take a look at the core elements of the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute as well as how Hensley’s laser-focused Indiana wrongful death lawyers can guide you through it.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

As explained in the General Wrongful Death Act, if “the death of one is caused by the wrongful act or omission of another,” the “personal representative of the former” – i.e. the person who died – “may maintain an action therefor against the latter” – i.e. the person who brought about the death.

In plain English, an Indiana wrongful death lawsuit needs to be filed by a “personal representative” of the deceased, though only if the deceased “might have maintained an action had he or she, as the case may be, lived, against the latter for an injury for the same act or omission.”

But exactly who can be a decedent’s “personal representative,” and who is entitled to the proceeds of an Indiana wrongful death claim? The answer will primarily hinge on the age of the deceased.

For instance, the list of potential claimants is more exclusive when the decedent is a child, defined in the Child Wrongful Death Act as:

• An “unmarried individual without dependents” who is “less than twenty (20) years of age”;
• An “unmarried individual” who is “less than twenty-three (23) years of age” and “enrolled in a postsecondary educational institution or a career and technical education school or program that is not a postsecondary educational program”; or
• A fetus that has “attained viability.”

If the deceased fits one of these descriptions, the personal representative (or representatives) filing the wrongful death action must be:

• Both parents “jointly, or either of them by naming the other parent as a codefendant to answer as to his or her interest”;
• The parent with custody of the child at the time of death “in case of divorce or dissolution of a marriage”; or
• The child’s legal guardian if the parents were deceased or their parental rights had been terminated before the child died.

In contrast, the candidate pool may be larger when the decedent is an adult, defined in the Adult Wrongful Death Act as:

• “An unmarried individual…who does not have any dependents…and…who is not a child” (as defined above); or
• “A married individual…who does not have any dependents…and…whose death was caused by the married individual’s spouse.”

Once again, the duty for filing suit will fall on the deceased’s personal representative. For an adult decedent, this is someone who has been approved to represent his or her estate, such as:

• An executor named in the deceased’s will; or
• An administrator appointed by the probate court if a will doesn’t exist.

Normally, this position will be filled by the decedent’s spouse, adult children, or parents, although that doesn’t automatically have to be the case. Regardless of who it is, however, a personal representative has the authority to take legal actions on behalf of the deceased’s estate, including filing a wrongful death suit when one is warranted, most often in partnership with a knowledgeable Indiana wrongful death attorney.

Yet while personal representatives are the parties with the legal standing to initiate wrongful death lawsuits, they are only supposed to file for the benefit of those who are eligible to recover damages under the Wrongful Death Statute, and that may or may not include the representatives themselves.

As the Statute states, “typical beneficiaries will include the widow or widower,…the dependent children, if any, or dependent next of kin, to be distributed in the same manner as the personal property of the deceased,” though others may have to be paid before them in some circumstances.

How Long Do You Have to File an Indiana Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

And if it isn’t always immediately obvious who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in Indiana, it’s not like the clock will stop ticking so that you can figure it out, since the timeline for an Indiana wrongful death case is determined by the state’s Statute of Limitations.

Under the Statute of Limitations, a wrongful death action “shall be commenced by the personal representative of the decedent within two (2) years,” though other stipulations may have to be satisfied sooner in cases against government entities. Thanks to Indiana’s Tort Claims Act, you may have to file a Notice of Tort Claim with the correct agency within 180 days of the date of loss, and that agency has be given a chance to craft a reply before you can file a wrongful death suit.

This can significantly decrease the time you have to unearth the defendants responsible for a wrongful death while simultaneously increasing the requirements you’ll have to address if you don’t want to be forever barred from obtaining everything you may be owed under the law.

What Compensation Can Be Awarded?

Just as the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute sharply constrains who can pursue wrongful death claims along with the window in which they pursue them, it caps the compensation that can be awarded to them too, and the deceased’s age will similarly play a role in setting those caps.

If the decedent is a child, compensation might be awarded for:

• Medical, hospital, funeral, and burial bills, outstanding debts, and estate expenses;
• Loss of the child’s love, companionship, and services; and
• Costs of reasonable counseling for parents or minor siblings.

If the deceased is an adult with children or other dependents, the survivors might be awarded compensation for:

• Funeral, burial, medical, and hospitalization bills;
• Loss of the decedent’s wages; and
• Lost love, affection, care, training, and guidance.

For an adult decedent without dependents, the compensation package might include:

• Medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses; and
• Loss of love and companionship, with the sum not to exceed $300,000.00.

Moreover, the heirs of a deceased adult without dependents can’t be awarded either punitive damages or compensation for grief or lost earnings. Additionally, the deceased’s nondependent children or parents will have “the burden of proving that the parent or child had a genuine, substantial, and ongoing relationship with the adult person” in order to qualify for any damages whatsoever.

Compensation may be further curtailed if a decedent shares any blame for a wrongful death, since Indiana’s comparative fault laws prohibit “recovery if the claimant’s contributory fault is greater than the fault of all persons whose fault proximately contributed to the claimant’s damages.”

Basically, while a wrongful death claim might still be viable if the deceased was 50 percent or less at fault for the fatal incident, with the total reduced in proportion to the decedent’s degree of fault, there likely won’t be any claim if the deceased was more than 50 percent at fault.

Finally, it should be noted that any funds for the medical bills or other outside debts cited above will have to be earmarked for reimbursement by the estate before the decedent’s beneficiaries are awarded anything, although that also tends to be true of an estate where the death wasn’t wrongful.

Clearly, the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute can place a lot of demands on your claim, but you can ensure that every “i” will be dotted and every “t” will be crossed by reaching out to the meticulous Indiana wrongful death lawyers at Hensley Legal Group, PC.

How Our Indiana Wrongful Death Attorneys Can Help

If you become one of the many Hoosiers every day who choose to hire Hensley, our Indiana wrongful death attorneys will launch a comprehensive investigation to identify the root causes of the wrongful death and everyone who may be liable for it.

Our firm will then establish valid claims and/or file suit against each of the defendants within the time allotted by law while taking care of any issues related to the administration of the deceased’s estate or the appointment of a personal representative.

After amassing the evidence necessary to put together a rock-solid case, Hensley’s Indiana wrongful death lawyers will fiercely negotiate with the defendants’ insurers for a settlement that reflects the full spectrum of the damages for which you may be legally compensated, such as:

• Medical, hospitalization, funeral, burial, and estate expenses
• Cessation of economic support
• Loss of love and companionship
• Psychological counseling (when permitted)

The state’s Wrongful Death Statute may curb how much can be awarded for certain damages, but our tenacious Indiana wrongful death attorneys will do everything in their power to maximize the value of your claim so that you can enjoy the future your loved one might have envisioned for you.

Get in Touch with Hensley’s Indiana Wrongful Death Lawyers

Hensley Legal Group has been tirelessly advocating for the innocent victims of negligence and their families for more than a quarter century. If someone close to you has been killed by the thoughtless acts of a thoughtless actor, get in touch with Hensley’s Indiana wrongful death lawyers to learn more about your legal options.

You can call us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form for a complimentary case review with an accomplished Indiana wrongful death attorney at our firm.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a wrongful death?

The State of Indiana classifies a death as wrongful when it is “caused by the wrongful act or omission of another.”

In the event of a wrongful death, certain parties are entitled to initiate a wrongful death claim, provided that the deceased might have also done so “for the same act or omission” if he or she had lived.

What is the Indiana Wrongful Death Statute?

The Indiana Wrongful Death Statute is the law governing civil litigation arising from a wrongful death.

The Statute is actually composed of three separate statutes featured in three separate sections of the Indiana Code, each dealing with separate aspects of wrongful death litigation: the General Wrongful Death Act, the Adult Wrongful Death Act, and the Child Wrongful Death Act.

Who can file a child wrongful death lawsuit in Indiana?

There is a relatively narrow field of plaintiffs who can file a lawsuit in Indiana over the wrongful death of a child.

Most often, the plaintiffs will be the child’s parents, but there are exceptions. For instance, if the parents are divorced, the lawsuit must be filed by the custodial parent, and a legal guardian may file if the parents are dead or their parental rights were terminated before the child’s death.

Who can file an Indiana adult wrongful death lawsuit?

The duty for filing suit over the wrongful death of an adult in Indiana typically falls on a personal representative who has been authorized to take legal actions on behalf of the decedent’s estate.

The position of personal representative is usually though not automatically filled by the decedent’s spouse, adult children, or parents, and the lawsuit is only supposed to be filed for the benefit of those who are eligible to recover damages under the Wrongful Death Statute.

How long do I have to pursue an Indiana wrongful death case?

The Statute of Limitations in Indiana gives you up to two years from the date of death to file a lawsuit or otherwise resolve a claim for a wrongful death.

Nevertheless, the timeline could be considerably shorter in some situations, with additional requirements that may have to be satisfied, so it may be wise to discuss any claim you might be contemplating with a knowledgeable Indiana wrongful death lawyer as soon as possible.