If you are reading this, you may have lost someone very recently. Maybe the call came from a hospital in Mineola or a police officer at your door in Levittown. Maybe it was a crash on the Southern State, a fall at a job site in Garden City, or a hospital mistake that nobody will explain. However it happened, the days since have probably been a blur of phone calls, paperwork and grief that does not leave room for anything else.
Please read this at your own pace. You do not need to understand all of it today, and nothing here requires you to make a decision right now. It is written so that when you are ready, you will know what a wrongful death claim is in New York, who can bring one, what it can and cannot do, and which dates matter. Where a Long Island wrongful death attorney can help, we will say so plainly. Where you can handle something yourself, we will say that too.
What “wrongful death” means
In New York, a wrongful death claim is a lawsuit brought when a person dies because of someone else’s wrongful act, neglect or default, and the person who died would have had a valid injury claim had they lived. The law is found in Estates, Powers and Trusts Law § 5-4.1.
That definition covers many situations families on Long Island face:
- A car, truck, motorcycle or pedestrian crash caused by a careless or impaired driver
- A fall from a scaffold, ladder or roof on a construction site
- A medical error, a missed diagnosis or neglect in a hospital or nursing home
- A dangerous condition on someone else’s property, such as a broken stairway or an unsecured pool
- A defective product, including fires from faulty batteries
It does not require a criminal charge. A driver can be found responsible in a civil case even if no one was arrested, and the standard of proof is lower than in criminal court.
Who can bring the claim
This is the part that surprises many families. In New York, a wrongful death case is not brought by “the family” as a group, or by whichever relative feels closest. It is brought by the personal representative of the estate: the executor named in a will, or an administrator appointed by the Surrogate’s Court if there was no will.
For a loved one who lived in Nassau County, that usually means the Nassau County Surrogate’s Court in Mineola. The court issues a document called letters testamentary (when there is a will) or letters of administration (when there is not). Until someone holds those letters, a wrongful death lawsuit generally cannot be filed. The New York courts’ CourtHelp page on when someone dies explains the Surrogate’s Court process in plain language.
The representative brings the case, but the recovery is for the family. New York law lists who shares in it, generally the surviving spouse, children and, in some cases, parents, and the court must approve how any wrongful death recovery is divided. Our article on who can sue for wrongful death in New York goes into more detail about these relationships.
What a wrongful death claim can recover
We want to be honest with you here, because many families expect the law to recognize their grief, and New York’s current statute does not do that directly.
Under EPTL § 5-4.3, wrongful death damages are generally limited to pecuniary losses: the financial value of what the family lost. That can include:
- The income and financial support your loved one would have provided
- The value of household services they performed, such as childcare, cooking, home repairs and driving
- The loss of parental care, guidance and education for children, which courts recognize as having real value
- Medical expenses from the injury that led to death
- Funeral and burial expenses
There is also a second, related claim that families often do not know about. A survival claim, under EPTL § 11-3.2, allows the estate to recover for the conscious pain and suffering your loved one experienced between the injury and death, and for losses they had before they died. If there was any period of awareness, even a short one, this claim may apply. It is usually brought in the same lawsuit.
New York lawmakers have passed a bill called the Grieving Families Act several times, which would have allowed families to recover for their grief and the loss of companionship. Governor Hochul vetoed it each time, most recently in December 2025. Because this area of law has been in motion, ask any attorney you speak with about where it stands at the time of your case.
The dates that matter
Grief does not follow a calendar, but the law does. These are the deadlines families most need to know.
| Situation | General deadline |
|---|---|
| Wrongful death lawsuit against a private person or company | Two years from the date of death (EPTL § 5-4.1) |
| Survival claim for the loved one’s own injuries | Usually tied to the time limit your loved one would have had, with some extensions after death |
| Claim against a town, village, the county or another public entity | A notice of claim generally within 90 days, counted from the appointment of the estate’s representative, and a lawsuit within two years of death |
| Medical malpractice that caused death | The wrongful death clock is still generally two years from death, but the malpractice rules can affect the case in other ways |
Two years can pass faster than it seems, especially if the estate has not been opened yet. The 90-day public-entity notice is the one we worry about most, because many families do not realize a county road, a town vehicle or a public hospital may be involved. Our guide to notices of claim in Nassau County explains that process.
Things you can do now, if you feel able
None of these are urgent in the way a funeral is urgent. They are simply small steps that make things easier later.
- Keep the paperwork in one place. A folder for the death certificate, police or incident reports, hospital records, bills, insurance letters and anything a company or insurer sends you.
- Write down what you know. Who called you, what they said, names of officers or doctors, witnesses who came forward. Memory fades in grief.
- Save photos and messages. Pictures of the scene if you have them, and texts or voicemails from the days around the event.
- Be careful with insurance calls. You do not have to give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer. It is fine to say you are not ready to talk.
- Do not sign releases or settlement papers without having someone you trust read them. A release can end the family’s claims permanently.
- Talk to the family about who will serve as representative. If there is a will, it usually names the executor. If not, the court will decide based on who applies and the legal order of priority.
Questions families ask us
We hear many of the same questions, usually asked quietly and with some guilt for asking at all. There is nothing wrong with asking them.
“Does it feel wrong to talk about money?”
Many families feel this way. A wrongful death claim is not a price tag on a life. It is how the law holds someone responsible and keeps a family from carrying the financial weight of a loss they did not cause, often for years, and often while raising children on one income.
“The driver was charged with a crime. Do we still need a civil case?”
A criminal case can result in punishment, but it does not usually compensate the family. The civil case is separate. A criminal conviction can help prove the civil case, but you do not need to wait for the criminal case to end to protect your rights, and waiting can put deadlines at risk.
“My loved one didn’t work. Is there still a claim?”
Yes, it is possible. Retired people, stay-at-home parents and students all provide value that the law can recognize: household services, care for others, and guidance to children and grandchildren. These cases need careful documentation, but they are real cases.
“Our loved one was partly at fault. Can we still bring a claim?”
Possibly. New York uses pure comparative fault, so a share of blame generally reduces a recovery by that percentage rather than eliminating it.
“What about loss of companionship for a spouse?”
Under current wrongful death law, grief and companionship are generally not compensable on their own. If your spouse survived for a time before passing, some related claims may exist through the survival action. Our article on loss of consortium in New York explains how spousal claims work in injury cases.
“How is the money divided among the family?”
The court approves the distribution. It generally follows the relationships set out in New York law and considers each person’s actual loss. For minor children, a court often requires that funds be protected until adulthood, and a structured settlement is sometimes used.
How a Long Island wrongful death attorney helps
Most families do not need a lawyer to grieve, plan a funeral or take care of each other. Where an attorney helps is in the parts that are hard to do while grieving:
- Working with the family and the Surrogate’s Court so a representative can be appointed and the claim can be filed on time
- Investigating what happened: police reports, vehicle data, medical records, job-site records and witness statements
- Identifying every responsible party and every insurance policy, including the family’s own coverage
- Working with economists and other experts to measure the financial loss in a way a court will accept
- Handling the insurance companies, so the family does not have to
- Making sure liens, court approval and distribution are handled correctly at the end
At Yakov Mushiyev & Associates, our wrongful death practice serves families throughout Nassau County and New York City. When a death followed a crash, our article on fatal car accident claims may help; when it followed a construction accident, see our page on fatal construction accidents. You can learn more about our office and the communities we serve on our Nassau County page.
You do not have to decide anything today
If you would like to talk, we will listen first. A consultation is free, it can happen at your home or by video, and it can be in English, Russian or Spanish. There is no fee unless we recover for your family. And if, after talking, you decide not to go forward, that is completely all right.
Yakov Mushiyev & Associates has recovered over $80 million for injured New Yorkers and their families across the five boroughs and Nassau County.
Call 718.775.3110 or reach out online whenever you are ready.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different. Attorney Advertising.