Fatal Accident Claim Solicitors
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Fatal Accident Claim
Help with your Fatal Accident Claim Call 020 8686 5000
Where a breadwinner or spouse dies as a result of another person's or company's carelessness or breach of a duty, then the surviving dependants will have a claim for loss of breadwinner's's earnings,the funeral expenses and often a bereavement allowance, currently set underan Act of Parliament at £10,000.
If you think you may be entitled to make such a claim then call Simon Cook on 020 8 686 5000 for a confidential discussion .
Fatal Accident Claims: - a summary of the law.
The dependants (which includes civil partners, children and common-law wives/husbands with whom the deceased had been living as though married for at least 2 year before death as well as at the time of death) will usually have a substantial claim for loss of the portion of the deceased earnings upon which they were dependent.
When assessing a fatal accident claim, usually the courts will assume that, where a breadwinner does leaving a spouse but no dependent children, then the survivors' dependency was 66% of the deceased's earnings and other income. Where there are dependent children, the dependants are assumed to have had a 75% of the deceased's income. Where the surviving spouse also worked, then it is assumed that both incomes were pooled and that the family depended upon the joint income, in which case the loss is assumed to be the joint income x the dependency (66% or 75%) less the continuing income of the surviving spouse.
However, this is only a working assumption which the courts are comfortable applying. Where there is evidence to suggest the above rule of thumb is unfair to the family, then the courts will happily apply different criteria and may make a more generous award or possibly award less in some cases.
Contact Details
Call Simon Cook on 020 8686 5000.