Losing someone to another person’s negligence or wrongful conduct is not something a legal claim can undo. What Florida law can do is provide a structured way to hold the responsible party accountable and address the financial impact left behind. The framework is specific, and understanding it matters, since it determines what is available and to whom.
- Survivor damages: lost support and services, companionship, and mental pain and suffering, depending on the relationship to the person who died.
- Estate damages: lost earnings, lost future accumulations, and medical or funeral expenses, separate from survivor damages and subject to creditor claims.
- Punitive damages: available in some cases involving gross negligence or intentional misconduct, on top of the categories above.
- Filing deadline: generally two years from the date of death, with no deadline at all if the death resulted from murder or manslaughter.
Who is allowed to file a wrongful death claim in Florida?
Only one person: the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate, under Fla. Stat. § 768.20. Individual family members, even a spouse or a child, cannot file separate claims individually. The personal representative is usually named in a will, or appointed by the probate court if there is no will, and brings a single action on behalf of both the survivors and the estate together.
What can surviving family members recover in a Florida wrongful death case?
Florida calls this category survivor damages, and what applies depends on the specific relationship to the person who died.
- Loss of support and services: available to all survivors, covering both the financial support and the household services the person would have provided, from the date of injury forward.
- Loss of companionship and protection, and mental pain and suffering: available to a surviving spouse.
- Loss of parental companionship, instruction, and guidance, and mental pain and suffering: available to minor children, and to adult children only if there is no surviving spouse.
- Mental pain and suffering: available to parents, if the person who died was a minor child.
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act defines a minor child differently than most people expect. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.18(2), a minor child means anyone under 25, not 18, for purposes of this specific law.
What can the estate recover in a Florida wrongful death case?
Estate damages are a distinct category under Fla. Stat. § 768.21, covering the financial loss to the estate rather than to individual survivors: lost earnings between the injury and the death, the loss of net accumulations the person would reasonably have been expected to build over their lifetime, and medical or funeral expenses connected to the death. This distinction has real consequences: estate damages are subject to the claims of the deceased person’s creditors, while damages awarded directly to individual survivors are not.
Are there limits on wrongful death damages in medical malpractice cases in Florida?
Yes, and this is a significant exception worth knowing about directly. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.21(8), when a death results from medical malpractice, adult children cannot recover for lost parental companionship or mental pain and suffering, and parents of a deceased adult child cannot recover for mental pain and suffering either. This restriction has been the subject of ongoing legislative debate, including repeal efforts, but remains in effect. It applies specifically to medical negligence claims and does not limit damages in car accident, premises liability, or other types of wrongful death cases.
Are punitive damages available in a Florida wrongful death case?
In some cases, yes, separately from the compensatory damages described above. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.72, punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the one used for other damages, and are only available for intentional misconduct or gross negligence, defined as conduct so reckless or indifferent to the safety of others that it goes beyond ordinary carelessness. A driver who causes a fatal crash while impaired, or a company that knowingly ignored a known safety hazard, are examples of conduct that can meet this standard. When the defendant is a company rather than an individual, holding it liable for punitive damages generally requires showing the company was grossly negligent, or that management knew about and approved the underlying conduct, not just that an individual employee made a mistake.
How long do I have to file a wrongful death claim in Florida?
Generally two years from the date of death, under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e), which runs separately from the deadline that would have applied to a personal injury claim had the person survived. One notable exception: if the death resulted from murder or manslaughter, there is no statute of limitations at all under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(11). See our full Florida Statute of Limitations guide for how these deadlines compare across different types of claims.
If your family is facing this
Every wrongful death case turns on the specific relationships involved and the specific facts of what happened, and the categories above only describe what the law allows, not what any particular family will recover. That is worth a real conversation, not a guess. These cases are handled locally, with wrongful death claims in Miami-Dade County filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. See our Wrongful Death page for how these cases are handled, and our Truck Accidents page for cases specifically involving commercial vehicles.
The first consultation is free and confidential, with no obligation to retain.