A wrongful death attorney Houston families reach out to after losing someone often has to explain two things at once: the law recognizes the loss, and the law is strict about who may act on it. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 71 controls both. Section 71.002 sets out when a death creates liability. Under Section 71.004, only certain family members may bring the claim. Section 71.021 preserves the claim the person would have had if they had lived. And Section 16.003(b) puts a two-year deadline on all of it, measured from the date of death. Each rule has a detail that changes how a family should think about the months after a funeral.
When Liability Exists Under Section 71.002
Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.002(b) makes a person liable for damages from an injury that causes death if that person, or their agent or servant, caused the injury through a “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.” That phrasing is broader than it looks. It covers an ordinary car crash on the Katy Freeway. A medical error, a workplace fall, or a defective product fits too. The agent-or-servant language reaches an employer whose driver caused a crash on the job. Still, the claim needs what an injury case needs. Someone must show the defendant’s conduct fell below the standard of care and the death followed from it. Loss alone does not establish liability.
Who a Wrongful Death Attorney Houston Families Consult Can Represent
Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.004(a) makes a wrongful death action the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased, and subsection (b) allows any one of them to bring the action for all. Siblings are not on that list. Neither are grandparents, unmarried partners, or close friends, however central they were to the person’s life. Texas courts have generally read the statute as closed. Subsection (c) adds a procedural rule that surprises many families. If no eligible relative has filed within three calendar months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate must bring the action. The relatives can stop that only by all asking the executor not to. Section 71.010 then lets a jury divide any award among the eligible relatives in the shares it finds appropriate.
The Survival Action Under Section 71.021
Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.021 provides that a personal injury claim does not end when the injured person dies, and that it survives to the heirs, legal representatives, and estate. This is a separate claim from the wrongful death action. The wrongful death claim belongs to the family and covers their own loss. The survival claim belongs to the estate. It covers what the person went through between injury and death, including conscious pain and medical expenses. Picture a crash where someone lived for days in a Texas Medical Center ICU. There, the survival claim can matter as much as the wrongful death claim. Families usually file the two together.
The Two-Year Deadline a Wrongful Death Attorney Houston Relatives Hire Will Watch
Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003(b) requires an action for injury resulting in death to be filed within two years after the cause of action accrues, and the statute states plainly that accrual happens on the death of the injured person. Not the crash date. Not the day the family learns of the negligence. The death date. That is a cleaner rule than many states have. It also means a person who survives an injury for months and then dies starts a fresh two-year window at death. Grief, estate administration, and a criminal case against the driver can all consume that window without anyone noticing.
The Bottom Line
Chapter 71 gives a Houston family a clear path, but the path is narrow: only a spouse, child, or parent may walk it, and only within two years of the death. The three-month rule in Section 71.004(c) can hand the claim to an estate administrator if the family hesitates. A wrongful death attorney Houston relatives work with will usually pair the family’s claim with the estate’s survival claim under Section 71.021. Together, the two describe the full loss in a way neither one does alone.
Frequently asked questions
Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.004(a) limits a wrongful death action to the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased; siblings, grandparents, and unmarried partners are not included.
Under Section 71.004(c), if no eligible relative has filed within three calendar months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate must bring the action unless all of those relatives ask them not to.
Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.021 preserves the injured person’s own personal injury claim after death; it belongs to the estate and covers what the person experienced between injury and death.
Section 16.003(b) requires the suit within two years after the cause of action accrues, and the statute specifies that accrual happens on the death of the injured person, not the date of the injury.
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Get MatchedThis article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Eligibility to bring a claim, estate procedures, and filing deadlines depend on the specific circumstances of each loss. If you or someone else needs medical attention, call 911 before doing anything else.