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Practice Area

Wrongful Death

When a death follows a collision, a worksite incident, a vessel or offshore event, a property condition, or a product failure, Leatherwood & Schindler investigates what happened and, separately, works through the family and estate questions that Texas law attaches to a death.

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Two connected records

A wrongful-death matter is built from two records that must be kept distinct and then brought together. The first is the event: what happened, who was involved, and what the evidence shows about how the death occurred. The second is the family and estate context: who the person was to the people around them, whether a will exists, whether a court has appointed anyone to act for the estate, and what changed for the people who depended on the person.

Leatherwood & Schindler works on both at once. The event record is investigated the way the firm investigates any serious-injury matter, because the death does not change where the evidence lives. The family and estate record is gathered with care, because Texas law attaches different parts of a death case to different people, and getting those facts right early prevents disputes later.

The event comes first

  • A death connected to a roadway collision is investigated through the crash report, the investigating agency’s file, vehicle data, and video.
  • A death connected to a commercial truck reaches the carrier and the companies behind the trip.
  • A death on or near a vessel, a terminal, or an offshore installation involves the vessel owner, the employer, and often the Coast Guard.
  • A death at a worksite involves the employer, its coverage status, the other companies on site, and any OSHA inspection.

The event investigation continues alongside the family and estate review.

Two things about the event record are specific to a death. First, other proceedings often run alongside the civil review: a criminal investigation, an agency inspection, or a medical examiner’s inquiry. Each answers its own question under its own standard, some of their material is unavailable while they are pending, and none of them decides a civil claim.

Second, the person who could have described the event is gone, which makes independent evidence, such as video, electronic data, physical evidence, and the accounts of other witnesses, more important, and makes early identification of that evidence part of the firm’s first work.

Texas law addresses death cases in Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which contains both a wrongful-death provision and a survival provision. In plain terms, a wrongful-death claim concerns the losses of particular surviving family members that the statute names. A survival claim is the injured person’s own claim, the one that person could have brought if they had lived, continued after death for the benefit of the estate.

These are different interests, they can belong to different people, and they can be affected by different facts. This page does not say which applies to any reader or who qualifies to bring either one. Those are legal conclusions that counsel reaches from the specific family, estate, and event facts, and the firm explains them to the people involved once those facts are known.

Why the firm asks about family and the estate

Early in a wrongful-death matter, counsel will ask about relationships, whether the person left a will, and whether a probate court has appointed an executor or administrator. These questions are not formalities.

Texas law connects different parts of a death case to different people, so the answers determine whom the firm can advise, who can make decisions and sign documents, and how any recovery would be divided. Where children are minors, a court may need to review any settlement, which is another reason the family structure is documented from the start.

If a court has already appointed someone to act for the estate, that should be shared at the first conversation. If not, counsel can explain whether that step matters in the particular situation and what it would involve.

Records after a death, handled with care

A certified copy of the death certificate can be ordered from the Texas Department of State Health Services or a local registrar by qualified applicants, generally immediate family members and legal representatives.

When the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences investigates a death, its findings are documented in a report that families and their attorneys can request; the office may classify the cause and manner of death as pending while testing continues, and the investigation of the event does not have to wait for that classification to be finalized. Other counties have their own medical examiners or justices of the peace who perform this role.

Beyond those documents, the family record can include the person’s medical records, obtained through an authorized representative; marriage, birth, and adoption records; the will and any estate filings; and employment, earnings, benefit, tax, and household information. That last category describes what changed for the people who depended on the person. It is not a valuation of the person, and the firm does not treat it as one. Personal photographs, messages, and writings are used only when they are relevant and only with the family’s agreement.

When specialized rules change the review

Some deaths bring additional bodies of law into the case. A death connected to a vessel, to offshore work, or occurring on the high seas can involve federal maritime statutes that determine who may act and what may be recovered. A railroad worker’s death, the death of an employee covered by workers’ compensation, a death involving a government entity, and a death caused by a defective product each carry rules that differ from an ordinary Texas negligence case.

The firm identifies these possibilities from the event record and addresses them with counsel’s review rather than describing them here, because a general summary would be wrong for many readers.

Speaking with the firm

Leatherwood & Schindler represents families in wrongful-death matters.

A first conversation is most useful when the family can describe what is known about the event, share any reports, claim numbers, or letters received, and say whether a will exists and whether a court has appointed anyone to act. Nothing needs to be complete. The firm will say whom it can advise, which records it would ask for first, and how the event and the family questions will be handled together.

Questions clients often ask

Wrongful Death FAQs

What does a wrongful-death investigation examine first?

The event. Where it happened, who was involved, what vehicles, equipment, or conditions were present, and what the investigating agencies documented. That work follows the same path as the underlying matter, whether a collision, a worksite incident, a vessel or offshore event, a property condition, or a product failure. The death changes the consequences and the participants; it does not change where the evidence lives.

How do wrongful-death and survival claims differ?

Conceptually, a wrongful-death claim concerns the losses of the particular surviving family members that Texas law names, while a survival claim is the injured person’s own claim, continued after death for the benefit of the estate. Both are addressed in Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Which of them applies in a given situation, and who may act on each, is a legal determination that counsel makes from the specific family and estate facts, not something a webpage can answer for a reader.

Why does the firm ask about family relationships and the estate so early?

Because Texas law connects different parts of a death case to different people. Some interests belong to particular family members; another continues through the estate. Whether a will exists, and whether a court has appointed someone to act for the estate, affects who can make decisions, sign documents, and receive information. Gathering those facts at the start prevents later disputes about who was represented and how any recovery would be divided.

Which records will the firm ask about after a death?

The event record described above, and then records specific to the death and the family. Those can include the death certificate, the medical examiner’s report where that office was involved, the person’s medical records, marriage, birth, and adoption records, any will or court filings concerning the estate, and employment, earnings, benefit, and household information. Personal photographs and communications are used only when they are relevant and only with the family’s consent.

Does a criminal case or an agency investigation replace the civil review?

No. A criminal prosecution, a police investigation, an OSHA inspection, or a Coast Guard inquiry each answers its own question under its own standard, and some of that material is unavailable while a matter is pending. Their findings are evidence that counsel evaluates. None of them settles a civil claim, and the firm does not wait for them to finish before identifying and preserving the records the civil review requires.

Does the kind of event change how a wrongful-death matter is reviewed?

Yes. A death connected to a vessel, offshore work, or the high seas, a railroad worker’s death, the death of an employee covered by workers’ compensation, or a death involving a government entity or a product can bring specialized state or federal rules into the review that alter who may act, what may be recovered, and how the matter proceeds. Identifying those rules early is one of the reasons the underlying event is investigated first and the family and estate information is gathered alongside it.