Car and rideshare crashes
Fatal collisions may involve negligent or impaired drivers, vehicle owners, employers, rideshare coverage, roadway evidence, and uninsured or underinsured motorist insurance.
Wrongful death
Nothing can replace the person your family lost.
Grief is difficult under any circumstances. It can be even harder when the death was preventable and the family is left with unanswered questions about what happened, who was responsible, and how life will continue without the person they depended on.
A wrongful death claim cannot undo the loss. It can uncover evidence, require responsible parties to answer through the civil process, and seek the losses Florida law recognizes for the estate and eligible survivors.
Your family deserves careful answers and room to grieve.
Call Manny at (305) 793-8687
How a wrongful death lawyer can help
Handle the legal structure while treating the family with dignity.
The Law Offices of Manny Arce investigates the cause of death, preserves evidence, coordinates with the personal representative and estate, identifies eligible survivors, evaluates insurance, and develops the losses recognized by Florida law.
- Protect the evidence. Preserve vehicles, property, electronic data, photographs, video, records, witnesses, and physical evidence before it changes or disappears.
- Investigate responsibility. Identify every person or company whose conduct may have contributed and analyze defenses or comparative-fault allegations.
- Coordinate the estate. Determine whether a personal representative has been appointed and help align the civil claim with necessary probate steps.
- Identify eligible survivors. Apply Florida’s statutory definitions to the family structure and dependency evidence rather than assuming every relative has the same claim.
- Develop the losses. Document support, services, companionship, guidance, mental pain and suffering, expenses, and estate losses where legally available.
- Provide one direct point of contact. Manage insurance and litigation demands while keeping the family informed without adding unnecessary burden.
Fatal incidents the firm evaluates
A wrongful death action begins with the underlying event.
Commercial truck collisions
Truck cases may require prompt preservation of carrier records, electronic data, driver files, maintenance information, cargo evidence, and multiple layers of insurance.
Motorcycle, bicycle, and pedestrian deaths
Visibility, right of way, speed, roadway design, driver attention, and physical evidence must be examined without relying on assumptions about the person outside the vehicle.
Boating and watercraft incidents
Fatal events on the water can raise vessel-operation, ownership, rental, equipment, intoxication, location, and maritime-law questions.
Cruise-related deaths
Passenger contracts, shortened deadlines, notice provisions, forum clauses, shipboard evidence, excursion providers, and maritime law may affect the claim.
Unsafe-property incidents
A fatal fall, structural failure, falling object, or security incident may require proof of property control, notice, foreseeability, maintenance, and causation.
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act
The personal representative brings one action for the estate and survivors.
Florida’s statutory structure is specific. The personal representative generally files the case and identifies the survivors and their relationships to the person who died. The available damages can differ for a spouse, child, parent, dependent relative, or the estate.
That means the family tree, dependency, lost support, replacement services, estate documents, and cause of death all matter. A category mentioned on a website is not automatically recoverable, and no two families have identical claims.
What the claim may address
The law measures losses that are both financial and deeply personal.
Depending on statutory eligibility and the facts, a wrongful death action may address lost support and services, certain medical or funeral expenses, loss of companionship and protection, loss of parental companionship and instruction, mental pain and suffering, and estate-related losses.
The financial analysis may require income, benefits, tax, household-service, and dependency evidence. The personal analysis requires care and restraint. The claim should explain the relationship and loss truthfully without turning grief into a formula.
Prompt investigation matters. Vehicles are repaired, surveillance is overwritten, vessels or property conditions change, employees move, and witnesses become harder to locate. Different defendants may also be governed by different notice requirements or deadlines.
Common questions
Florida wrongful death claims
Who files a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida?
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act generally requires the decedent’s personal representative to bring the action. The complaint identifies the survivors and the estate’s claimed losses. Probate and civil-court coordination may therefore be necessary.
Who qualifies as a survivor?
The statute defines survivors and may include a spouse, children, parents, and certain dependent relatives. Eligibility and available damages depend on the relationship, dependency, age, cause of death, and other statutory rules.
What damages may be available?
Depending on the facts and statutory eligibility, damages may include lost support and services, certain medical or funeral expenses, loss of companionship or parental guidance, mental pain and suffering, and estate losses. Not every category is available to every survivor.
What must be proven in a Florida wrongful death case?
The evidence must establish a legally recognized wrongful act, negligence, default, or breach that caused the death and would have supported a claim had the person survived. The case must also prove the recoverable losses of the estate and eligible survivors.
How soon should a family speak with a lawyer?
Prompt advice is important because evidence can disappear and different defendants or claims may carry different notice and filing requirements. A general website deadline should not be used to calculate the time for a particular death.
Begin with a private conversation—not a sales pitch.
A free, confidential consultation can address the investigation, estate, survivors, insurance, deadlines, and the questions your family needs answered.
This information is general and is not a prediction of eligibility, damages, or outcome. Florida’s statutory rules and the specific facts control.