If you have lost a loved one in a fatal accident, protecting your family’s legal rights is important. Along with the unimaginable emotional toll of losing a loved one too soon, fatal accidents can lead to significant out-of-pocket costs for families as well. Grieving families can recover financial compensation for their losses in many cases, and this involves filing a wrongful death claim under Illinois law.
The first step in pursuing a wrongful death claim is hiring an experienced lawyer to represent your family. For a variety of reasons, this is not something you should try to handle on your own. Instead, you should rely on an experienced wrongful death lawyer’s advice and representation, and you should work with your family’s lawyer to make informed decisions throughout the process.
Why is hiring a lawyer the first step? Here are just some of the ways an experienced wrongful death lawyer can help you and your family:
One of the first, and most important, ways an experienced wrongful death lawyer can help is by determining if your family has grounds to take legal action. If your family has grounds to take legal action, it will be important to start the process right away. Evidence can disappear quickly; and, even in this scenario, the insurance companies will put their own interests first.
Filing a wrongful death claim requires evidence of why the fatal accident happened. From forensic evidence to cell phone records, receipts, and other documentation, evidence can take many different forms.
Many forms of evidence can disappear if they are not promptly preserved. As a result, it is important to conduct a comprehensive investigation as soon after the accident as possible. Once you hire a lawyer to represent your family, your family’s lawyer will get to work right away.
Along with working to preserve critical evidence before it disappears, your family’s lawyer will also take the necessary steps to preserve your family’s legal rights. Starting the process early is important; and, if your family is entitled to just compensation, showing that your family is prepared to do what it takes to establish accountability could help the process move more quickly.
Under Illinois law, grieving families are entitled to “just” compensation for their financial and non-financial losses after a fatal accident. While no amount of money is truly “just,” this is the best the legal system has to offer. Your family’s lawyer can accurately calculate the compensation your family is entitled to recover so that you do not unknowingly leave money on the table.
When you need to take legal action following a fatal accident, you also need to be careful to avoid mistakes that could jeopardize your family’s efforts to establish accountability. Along with guiding you through the process of asserting your family’s legal rights, your family’s lawyer can also explain what not to do while your family’s wrongful death claim is pending.
Ultimately, your family’s lawyer will be focused on seeking compensation on your family’s behalf. While you can file an insurance claim on your own, navigating the process successfully requires an in-depth understanding of your family’s legal rights under Illinois law. It also requires an in-depth understanding of what it takes to convince the insurance companies to accept liability. As a result, most family members simply are not equipped to handle their families’ claims themselves.
With an experienced wrongful death lawyer on your side, you can feel confident that you are making informed decisions about when (and if) to settle your family’s claim. If you don’t have an experienced attorney on your side, you won’t know what constitutes “just” compensation for your family’s losses, and you won’t know if the insurance companies are trying to take advantage of you.
If you have tragically lost a loved one in a fatal accident in Illinois, we encourage you to contact us promptly for more information about filing a wrongful death claim.
Contact the Chicago wrongful death lawyers at Coplan + Crane today online or at (312) 982-0588 for a FREE case evaluation. We proudly serve clients across Illinois, including Chicago, Oak Park, Rockford, and other areas.
