Eligible survivors
The law may recognize losses suffered by a spouse, children, parents, and certain other dependent relatives. Who qualifies depends on the relationship and statute.
Find help with a property transaction, a home at risk, or a debt you need to address.
Start with what happened or the community where you need help.
Explore planning, estate administration, and decisions about care and family responsibilities.
Find the service that fits your business, succession plans, or entertainment matter.
Find the statewide overview or Stuart page, then talk with the firm about your situation.
Find help with an investigation, arrest, criminal charge, or court date.
When a preventable act takes someone you love, your family may be facing funeral decisions, estate questions, and calls you were never prepared to handle. Start with what you know. Katz & Associates will help you understand what comes next.
No attorney fee unless compensation is recovered for you.
A first conversation does not require your family to reach a legal conclusion. Tell us what happened, what you were told, and what is demanding attention now. We can explain what should be reviewed and what Katz can take off your plate.
That may mean protecting records, identifying a personal representative, sorting out insurer contact, or simply giving you a clearer picture of the next decision. You should not have to learn the entire process while you are grieving.
Florida law places the wrongful death action with the personal representative, who brings it for the benefit of eligible survivors and the estate. That structure should be explained clearly, not dropped on the family as another burden.
The law may recognize losses suffered by a spouse, children, parents, and certain other dependent relatives. Who qualifies depends on the relationship and statute.
The estate may have its own recoverable losses. Appointment and estate-administration questions can affect how the claim moves forward.
Negligence, a wrongful act, a defective condition, professional conduct, or another legal basis must be supported by the facts and law.
Records, witnesses, experts, insurance, assets, and available defendants shape what can be proven and how the claim should be pursued.
Your family should not have to become the investigator. Katz can identify what may disappear, preserve the right sources, and build the facts in an order that respects both the case and the people living through the loss.
Video, electronic data, physical evidence, internal records, and witness memory may have short practical lifespans.
The event, property, vehicle, product, care provider, employer, or business relationship may point beyond one person.
The personal representative and family relationships should be addressed early enough to prevent avoidable conflict or delay.
The work must show how this person supported, cared for, guided, and mattered to the family, not only how the death occurred.
A fatal crash, unsafe property condition, workplace event, defective product, or problem in medical or long-term care creates a different trail. In Stuart, that trail may involve city police, the Martin County Sheriff, businesses, health providers, property records, and the courts that handle the estate.
Whether the loss happened near US 1, Kanner Highway, Palm Beach Road, I-95, a neighborhood, or a care setting, the location should lead to specific evidence and responsible parties, not a list of road names inserted for search engines.
“A life is not a spreadsheet. The legal work should still account for every way that life supported the people left behind.”
No honest lawyer can value a wrongful death from one call. The relationships, support, services, circumstances, evidence, and law all need careful review.
Florida's Wrongful Death Act addresses losses that may belong to eligible survivors and losses that may belong to the estate. The available categories depend on the relationships and circumstances, so the framework should be explained without promising that every category applies.
The categories and limitations appear in Florida Statute 768.21.
You do not need a complete timeline, a legal theory, or an appointed representative before asking for guidance. We can start with the facts you know and identify what deserves attention now.
You stay informed about the decisions that matter. Katz organizes the investigation, legal roles, insurers, and proof so the family is not asked to manage the case day to day.
We identify the event-specific records, witnesses, physical evidence, digital sources, and expert questions before avoidable gaps develop.
We help clarify the personal representative's role and connect the wrongful death work with estate issues that affect the claim.
We develop the financial, practical, and human evidence for the survivor and estate categories supported by Florida law.
We handle insurer contact, present the supported claim, respond to disputes, negotiate, and prepare for litigation when the facts and strategy call for it.
These answers are general information. The cause of death, family relationships, estate status, defendant, and applicable law can change the analysis.
Florida law generally requires the decedent's personal representative to bring the action for the benefit of eligible survivors and the estate. A spouse, child, parent, or another family member may start the conversation with Katz even if no representative has been appointed yet.
That does not prevent the family from asking for guidance. The Martin County estate and family circumstances can be reviewed, and the necessary appointment steps can be coordinated with the wrongful death investigation.
Depending on the relationships and facts, Florida law may allow lost support and services, certain companionship and mental-pain losses, medical or funeral expenses, and specified estate losses. Not every category is available in every case.
A criminal case and a civil wrongful death claim serve different purposes and can move on different timelines. The civil evidence and filing requirements still need attention. Coordination can protect the civil claim without interfering with the criminal process.
Florida Statute 95.11 generally provides two years for a wrongful death action. Different defendants, claim types, pre-suit requirements, and statutory exceptions can change the analysis. Evidence may disappear much earlier, so the deadline should be reviewed rather than guessed.
Share what happened, who you lost, and what is pressing on your Stuart family now. We will listen, explain what can be reviewed, and help you understand the next practical step.
CALL 772-933-5289No attorney fee unless compensation is recovered for you.