Financial Support and Household Service Damages After a Texas Wrongful Death

Economic proof in a wrongful death case

When someone dies, a family can lose more than a paycheck. The decedent may also have kept the health insurance, watched the kids, fixed the car, and driven a parent to appointments. To claim those losses, you need records that show who relied on each one and how you got the numbers.

Start with who relied on what

• Ask who depended on earnings, who got help around the house, and who paid which bills.
• Do not split a salary evenly among beneficiaries. A spouse, a young child, and a parent often relied on the decedent in different ways.
• Subtract what the decedent would have spent on personal needs. Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 18.091 requires certain pecuniary losses to be shown net of income tax.

Gather records for earnings

• Pay stubs, tax returns, employment history, and benefit statements.
• Employer testimony about raises or regular overtime. A raise that never came needs its own proof.
• For a business owner, financial statements, contracts, and who else did the work. Gross revenue is not lost income, because employees or a partner may keep the business running.

Household services

• In a normal week, who cooked, drove the kids, fixed the leaky sink, or took Mom to the doctor?
• Add up the hours and note who does each job now.
• Count every task one time only.

Future losses

• A 35-year-old parent may have 30 working years left. The economist must pick a retirement age and explain why.
• Lost inheritance is a separate claim, not a second copy of lifetime earnings.

Estate losses

• Hospital bills before death: you recover what was actually paid or incurred under section 41.0105. See Haygood v. De Escabedo, 356 S.W.3d 390 (Tex. 2011).
• A bill alone does not show the crash caused the care. Funeral costs need the invoices and proof of who paid.

Settlement and insurance limits

• A $500,000 policy caps what a $2 million claim can collect. Pull the real policies and read the exclusions.
• Check the limit for each person and for each accident, and find out who else is claiming against it.
• Read every release. See whether it covers the estate and every beneficiary.
• Compare net to net. Take fees, costs, and liens out of both numbers.

Aaron A. Herbert is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Read the published background and case results. Board certification belongs to the attorney, and past results do not guarantee another outcome.

To talk through your family’s claim, request a free consultation with The Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert PC or call 214 200 4878. Tell the office the dates of the incident and death, any deadline, whether a release was offered, and whether evidence may be lost.

Attorneys and referral partners can use the same contact details. Related reading: the Texas Wrongful Death Knowledge Hub and Texas Wrongful Death Claims and Litigation Strategy.

Legal sources

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 71 sections 71.002 through 71.011 and 71.021.

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 41.

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 18.

Haygood v De Escabedo 356 SW3d 390 Tex 2011 original opinion locator.

G A Stowers Furniture Co v American Indemnity Co 15 SW2d 544 Tex Commn App 1929 holding approved discussed with later authority in In re Farmers Texas County Mutual Insurance Co No 19 0701 Tex 2021.

Texas Rules of Civil Procedure current official edition.

Texas Rules of Evidence and Appellate Procedure current official index.

Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

This material provides general information about Texas law. The applicable facts, law, policy, court orders, and procedural posture govern each matter. Hypothetical examples illustrate analysis rather than reported firm cases.