Salt Lake City Wrongful Death Lawyers

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Utah?

Under Utah law, a wrongful death claim may be brought by the deceased’s heirs or a personal representative of the estate acting on behalf of those heirs. Utah Code §§ 78B-3-105 and 78B-3-106 define eligible heirs to include:

• The surviving spouse
• The deceased’s children
• The deceased’s parents
• Stepchildren who were minors and primarily financially dependent on the deceased at the time of death
• A personal representative of the deceased’s estate, acting on behalf of the heirs

In cases involving multiple heirs, generally only one claim is filed to avoid competing legal actions and support a fair distribution of compensation.

Determining who should file and how the claim should be structured can be far more complicated than it first appears. Family dynamics, estate considerations, and legal technicalities all shape that decision. We can walk you through each factor clearly and help you take the steps that protect every heir’s interests.

What Compensation Is Available in Wrongful Death Cases?

Your family may be entitled to recover compensation for both the economic and emotional impact of your loved one’s death.

This includes:

• Funeral and burial expenses
• Medical expenses from the final injury or illness
• Loss of financial support the deceased would have provided
• Loss of benefits, such as health insurance or retirement contributions
• Loss of companionship, care, and guidance
• Pain and suffering experienced by surviving family members

In some cases, your family may also pursue damages for the deceased’s own pain and suffering before death. When a defendant’s conduct was particularly reckless or intentional, courts may award punitive damages intended to punish the wrongdoer rather than simply compensate the family. If the deceased suffered losses before death, such as medical bills and lost wages, a separate survival action may allow the estate to recover those amounts as well. Utah’s modified comparative negligence rule also means your family may still recover even if your loved one bore some share of responsibility for the incident, as long as that share stays below 50 percent.

How We Support Families Through a Wrongful Death Claim

While you’re grieving, the last thing you should have to manage is a complex legal process. Our team at Eisenberg Lowrance Lundell Lofgren handles that on your behalf, so you can focus on your family and your healing.

Our firm can:

• Thoroughly investigate the circumstances to determine what happened and who was responsible
• Preserve and organize evidence and obtain expert analyses to build a strong, fact-based claim
• Provide clear updates at every step of your case and answer questions promptly
• Negotiate on your behalf and pursue litigation when necessary to seek the maximum possible compensation

Wrongful death cases can arise from car and truck crashes, medical malpractice, premises liability, defective products, workplace fatalities, and elder care or nursing home neglect. Insurers often move quickly after a death, and early settlement offers frequently fall short of what the claim is actually worth. Our firm maintains a dedicated elder care injury practice, one of the few of its kind in Utah, focused on wrongful deaths arising from care facility failures. Through affiliations and co-counsel relationships, we also leverage broader legal networks and expert resources to strengthen cases when needed. Read more about what our clients experience on our reviews page.

Utah’s Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations

Time is one of the most consequential factors in a wrongful death case. In Utah, families generally have two years from the date of death to file a claim. When the claim involves a government entity, that window tightens: under Utah’s Governmental Immunity Act, a written notice of claim must be submitted within one year of the death before a lawsuit can proceed. Missing either deadline may mean the court won’t hear the case, regardless of how strong the underlying facts are.

Evidence can disappear, witness memories fade, and surveillance footage gets overwritten. The sooner our team gets involved, the better positioned we are to preserve what matters. If a criminal case arises from the same incident, your civil wrongful death claim can move forward independently. The two processes don’t block each other, and a criminal conviction may serve as evidence in the civil case, though the civil standard of proof is lower either way.

Why Salt Lake City Families Trust Our Wrongful Death Attorneys

When you work with Eisenberg Lowrance Lundell Lofgren, you get a team that treats your case with the seriousness it deserves. Our wrongful death lawyers in Salt Lake City have earned repeated recognition from Super Lawyers and multi-year Legal Elite selections from Utah Business Journal. They’ve served in leadership roles within the Utah Association for Justice and drafted legislation that is now Utah law. We’ve handled more than 150 cases with recoveries exceeding $1 million and tried dozens of complex tort cases to verdict, including high-stakes wrongful death litigation across Utah. We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, because sometimes it does, and we fight for every dollar your family may be entitled to pursue.

If you have lost a family member due to negligence, we invite you to call (385) 475-4183 for a free consultation. We work on a contingency-fee model, so you won’t pay anything unless we win. Bilingual services in English and Spanish are available.