The funeral is over and somewhere in the pile of mail on the kitchen table is a letter from an insurance company. A family that has not slept properly in weeks is supposed to know what to do with it. Texas gives certain family members the right to bring a wrongful death claim, but the law is narrower than most people expect, and the clock starts running on the day of the death. This is the moment to call an East Texas wrongful death lawyer. We can review that letter before you respond, explain who in your family may bring the claim, and protect the two-year deadline already running.
The Question a Texas Court Asks First
Most articles about wrongful death open with who may file. Texas law opens somewhere else. The wrongful death statute applies “only if the individual injured would have been entitled to bring an action for the injury if the individual had lived or had been born alive.”
That one sentence governs everything that follows. The family’s right to bring the case is not independent of the claim the person who died would have had. It is built on that claim, and the Texas Supreme Court has said so in blunt terms: wrongful death plaintiffs “stand in the legal shoes of the decedent.”
The consequence catches families off guard. If the person who died had signed a release, or had already run out of time to sue, or faced some other complete defense, then no wrongful death claim ever comes into existence. Nothing about a family’s grief changes that analysis.
This is also why the conduct of the person who died still matters. In a Texas tort case, a recovery is reduced by the claimant’s percentage of responsibility, and a claimant whose share is greater than 50% recovers nothing at all. An insurance company defending a fatal crash will spend real money trying to move that percentage.
Who Texas Law Allows to File
The statute names the beneficiaries and then stops. That list is short, and it is the whole list. A Texas wrongful death action is for the exclusive benefit of:
- A surviving spouse
- The children of the person who died, whether they are minors or adults
- The parents of the person who died
Siblings are not on that list. Neither are grandparents, grandchildren, or cousins. Siblings and grandchildren can still share in the separate survival claim if they are heirs of the estate. Any one of the eligible family members may bring the action for the benefit of all of them, so a family does not need three separate lawsuits.
A common-law spouse is different. Texas recognizes informal marriage, provable by showing that a couple agreed to be married, then lived together in this state as spouses and told others they were married. A partner who meets that standard is a surviving spouse, so the absence of a ceremony is not the end of the question.
The statute also puts a duty on the estate. If none of those family members has begun the action within three calendar months after the death, the executor or administrator must bring and prosecute it, unless all of them ask that it not be filed. The family does not lose the right to sue at that mark, and the recovery still belongs to the family, not the estate.
Two Separate Claims From One Death
Texas creates two different claims out of a single death. Both grow out of the same underlying personal injury case, but they belong to different parties and cover different losses.
The wrongful death claim belongs to the spouse, the children, and the parents, and it addresses what they lost.
The survival claim is different. Texas law provides that a personal injury cause of action “does not abate because of the death of the injured person,” and that it survives “to and in favor of the heirs, legal representatives, and estate of the injured person.” If your father lived nine days after the wreck, the claim for those nine days did not die with him.
The distinction matters for one very concrete reason. Money recovered in a wrongful death action is not subject to the debts of the deceased. The survival statute gives the estate’s recovery no such protection. Two claims from the same crash can end up in very different places.
What the Statute Actually Says About Money
The wrongful death statute does not contain a list of recoverable damages. It authorizes an action “for actual damages,” then leaves the amount to the jury, which “may award damages in an amount proportionate to the injury resulting from the death.” The jury also divides that award among the beneficiaries who are alive at the time of the verdict.
The categories a Texas jury weighs come from Texas case law. Depending on the family member, they can include lost financial support, care, advice, and household services; loss of companionship and society; mental anguish; and, in some cases, the inheritance the family member likely would have received. The survival claim is separate and can address the person’s own pain and medical expenses before death, along with reasonable funeral and burial expenses.
The statute also includes two further rules. Exemplary damages, which punish rather than compensate, require a death caused by “the wilful act or omission or gross negligence of the defendant,” and that showing alone is not enough. A separate chapter of Texas law adds a clear and convincing evidence standard, a unanimous jury, and usually a cap. Additionally, a wrongful death action is not blocked because the death was caused by a felonious act or because there may be a criminal proceeding over that felony. Those are separate proceedings with separate standards of proof.
Nobody can quote you a number out of the wrongful death statute, because there is no number in it. Other statutes do cap recovery in some cases, including deaths arising from medical care. Value gets built from evidence, and evidence gets harder to gather every week.
The Deadlines That Decide Whether You Have a Case
Texas gives two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit, and the clock has a start date that surprises people. A person must bring suit for an injury resulting in death “not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues,” and that cause of action “accrues on the death of the injured person.” When someone is hurt in March and dies in August, the two years run from August. Claims against doctors and hospitals are the exception: those run from the negligent act or the end of treatment, not from the death.
A few other timing rules travel alongside that deadline:
- A death suspends the running of a limitations period that was already running, such as the claim the injured person already held, carried forward as a survival claim, for 12 months, or until an executor or administrator qualifies if that comes first.
- Texas does not count the time a person is under 18 against that person’s limitations period if the disability existed when the claim accrued, so a child’s timeline can look different from an adult’s.
- When a government vehicle or a government-maintained road is involved, Texas law can require written notice to the governmental unit within six months of the incident, and some city charters set a shorter deadline.
None of that is a reason to wait. Limitation rules protect defendants, not families, and the practical deadline arrives long before the legal one.
What Fatal Crashes Look Like in Anderson and Houston Counties
Wrongful death in East Texas rarely resembles the freeway pileups in the stock photos. State crash figures for 2025 (TxDOT data as of April 2026) record 12 fatal crashes in Anderson County and 3 in Houston County. In Anderson County, 11 of those 12 happened on U.S. and state highways or farm-to-market roads, and the remaining one on a county road. None were on a city street. In Houston County, all three occurred on a U.S. or state highway, and not one on a county road or a city street.
In this part of East Texas, those are roads like U.S. 287 and the highways between Grapeland, Palestine, and Crockett. The physical evidence a family will need later can be gone within days of the wreck.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas?
The surviving spouse, the children (minor or adult), and the parents of the person who died. One or more of them may file for the benefit of all. If none files within three months, the executor or administrator must file unless all of them ask that it not be filed.
How long do you have to file a wrongful death claim in Texas?
Generally two years from the date of death. Claims against doctors and hospitals follow a different rule, and claims involving a governmental unit can require written notice within six months or less.
What is the difference between a wrongful death claim and a survival claim?
A wrongful death claim belongs to the spouse, children, and parents and covers their own losses. A survival claim carries forward the injured person’s own claim, such as pain and medical expenses before death, for the benefit of the estate and heirs.
Talk With PINEYWOODS LAW™ Before the Clock Runs
Chris Sbrusch started his career defending insurance companies, learning from the inside how insurers evaluate and defend injury claims before he began working the other side for families. That background is why PINEYWOODS LAW™ pushes on the questions insurers hope nobody asks.
If your family lost someone in a car crash or a truck wreck in Anderson County, Houston County, or anywhere in East Texas, a conversation costs nothing. Contact us today for a free consultation. We will meet you at home or at the hospital if that is easier, and Se Habla Español. We handle these cases on contingency. No fees or expenses unless we recover for you.
