If you’re here, chances are someone you cared about was killed because of the carelessness or negligence of others. One of the questions that you may have is, “How do I know who to retain to represent my interests and pursue a claim against the ones that caused the accident and death of my loved one?” You want an attorney that has experience in personal injury litigation and wrongful death litigation. You want an attorney that you feel comfortable with. You want to sit down with the attorney and ask the attorney questions. You want to find out if that attorney has handled the type of case that you have. You also want to look at the size of the firm. Is it a big firm? Is it a mid-sized firm? You want to make sure that you’ll have access to the attorney. A lot of times, a firm will assign a paralegal or a legal assistant to a particular client and when the client calls, the client doesn’t speak with the attorney, but the client speaks with a paralegal. You want to make sure that the firm that you retain is a firm that’s going to give you access to the attorney handling your case.
Before you let the idea of this being a challenging process discourage you, understand that an experienced New York wrongful death attorney knows exactly what to do to make this as successful a case as possible. You are most likely understandably overwhelmed and that’s okay. The job of your attorney is to take the pressure off of you. This is already a hard enough time for you. Our New York wrongful death attorney will not let insurance companies take advantage of you while you are vulnerable. Brain Elbaum will guide you through this step by step.
The first thing that needs to be determined is who will be responsible for bringing the claim. The statues are a little more complicated in New York than they are in other states. In order to bring a claim, you must have been financially depended on the decedent (your loved one who has passed away).
You may bring a wrongful death claim if you are:
- The decedent’s child
- The decedent’s spouse
- The decedent’s parent
- The decedent’s personal representative
There may be additional family members or loved ones that are named as a personal representative of the estate. To be sure of who can bring a claim, it is very important that you sit down with an experienced New York wrongful death attorney to identify who that person will be.
Did you lose a loved one due to the negligence of another and have questions about picking a wrongful death attorney for your claim? Contact the Law Offices of Brian J. Elbaum today for a free case evaluation. Let our experience work for you.
