The wrongful death statute in the state of Georgia outlines which surviving family members are eligible to bring a claim for wrongful death after a deceased loved one passes away. In cases where the deceased individual is married, then the surviving spouse is the individual who must bring the wrongful death claim.
In some cases, in addition to a surviving spouse, the deceased individual may leave surviving children. If there are surviving children in the picture, then the decedent’s surviving spouse must act as the surviving children’s legal representative. In addition, the spouse must share any damage award from the wrongful death legal action with the surviving children.
No matter how many surviving children the decedent has, however, the surviving spouse must never receive below 1/3 of the total damage recovery in the wrongful death legal action. In some cases, at the time of their passing, the deceased individual may have been divorced. In that instance, the deceased individual’s surviving children would jointly hold the wrongful death claim.
