When you lose a child due to someone else's careless actions, the emotional devastation is overwhelming. Our Anderson wrongful death lawyer understands that no amount of compensation can make up for your profound loss. However, holding negligent parties accountable can help prevent similar tragedies and provide your family with needed financial support during this difficult time.
Our compassionate legal team has guided numerous families through this challenging process, explaining parental rights in wrongful death claims involving minor fatalities.
Understanding Parental Rights in Wrongful Death Claims
Under South Carolina law, parents have specific rights when pursuing a wrongful death claim after losing a child. The right to file a claim typically belongs to both parents, even if they are divorced or were never married. However, certain situations may affect these rights.
- For married parents, either spouse can serve as the personal representative of the child's estate.
- When parents are divorced, the custody arrangement at the time of death may influence who has priority to serve as personal representative.
- In cases where parents disagree about pursuing a claim or settlement terms, the court may need to intervene to protect both parents' interests.
- When one parent is deceased or cannot be located, the remaining parent typically has full authority to pursue the claim.
- Stepparents generally cannot file wrongful death claims unless they legally adopted the child before death.
- Legal guardians who had physical custody of the child may have rights regarding certain aspects of the case, even though the wrongful death claim itself belongs to the biological parents.
- If both parents are deceased or unable to serve, other family members may be appointed to act as the personal representative of the child's estate.
Parents who have lost their parental rights prior to the child's death may not have standing to file a claim. Similarly, parents who abandoned the child or failed to provide support may face challenges in pursuing compensation. The court considers factors such as the parent's relationship with the child and their level of involvement in the child's life.
These situations require careful coordination between all parties to ensure everyone's rights are protected while pursuing justice for the child.
Special Considerations in Child Wrongful Death Cases
Child wrongful death claims involve unique factors that distinguish them from other types of cases. Understanding these differences helps families prepare for the path ahead.
Economic Damages
Unlike adult cases, where wrongful death damages focus on lost wages, child cases require examining potential rather than history. This may involve analyzing academic performance and achievements, family educational background, statistical data on lifetime earning potential, and long-term financial impact on the family unit.
The courts will consider the child’s age and health before the incident, the circumstances of the death, and the degree of negligence involved. South Carolina law allows families to seek compensation for:
- Medical expenses before death, including emergency care and life-saving attempts
- Funeral and burial costs
- Mental anguish and emotional distress experienced by parents and siblings
- Loss of companionship throughout the expected lifetime
- Punitive damages in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct
Emotional Impact
South Carolina law recognizes both the immediate damages and the long-term emotional effects of losing a young life with so much potential ahead. Courts will consider the unique nature of parent-child bonds when considering damages. Juries must consider the profound impact of losing a child and the lifetime of memories, experiences, and relationships that were cut short.
Notable factors include:
- Profound psychological impact on parents
- Effects on siblings' emotional development
- Loss of milestones and future experiences
- Impact on family dynamics and relationships
- Long-term counseling and support needs
- Changes in parents' ability to work or function
Heightened Duty of Care Standards
Those responsible for children's safety are held to a higher standard for duty of care than in adult cases. It may take less to prove a breach in the duty of care in minor fatalities than in wrongful death cases involving adults.
Preschool and daycare workers have more comprehensive supervision expectations, including additional licensing and training requirements. Special regulations for child-focused facilities may call for enhanced safety protocols and security measure mandates.
Common Scenarios Leading to Wrongful Death Claims
Tragically, preventable circumstances often lead to minor fatalities. Understanding common scenarios helps families recognize when they may have a valid claim. Each scenario requires specific evidence-gathering approaches and legal strategies.
Daycare Accidents
Daycare wrongful death incidents frequently stem from inadequate supervision or unsafe facility conditions. Staff members may fail to maintain required child-to-caregiver ratios, creating dangerous situations. Some facilities lack proper safety equipment or barriers, while others follow unsafe sleep practices for infants.
Wrongful death cases may involve improper food preparation leading to choking, failure to conduct required background checks on employees, or inadequate emergency response protocols when children are in distress.
School Incidents
School-related accidents can occur during various activities throughout the day. Transportation incidents involving school buses are particularly concerning, as are injuries during sports practices or games where proper safety protocols weren't followed.
Field trips present unique risks when supervision is inadequate. Playground equipment accidents on school grounds, severe allergic reactions due to food handling mistakes, and general building safety issues have all led to tragic outcomes.
Drowning Deaths
Swimming pool tragedies often result from multiple safety failures. Many cases involve missing or inadequate fencing around pools, broken gate latches that allow unsupervised access, or a lack of required safety equipment. Insufficient lifeguard coverage, poor maintenance of pool drain covers, and unclear or missing depth markers can create hazardous conditions that put children at risk.
Fatal Car Crashes
Vehicle accidents pose particular risks to pedestrian children, who may be harder for drivers to see and may not yet understand traffic dangers. School zone speeding incidents remain a serious concern, as do collisions in residential areas where children are present.
Backup camera blind spots in newer vehicles can create false confidence in drivers, while traditional blind spot areas continue to contribute to driveway accidents. Bicycle-related crashes and pedestrian incidents in crosswalks often occur when drivers fail to exercise appropriate caution around children.
Legal Requirements Under South Carolina Law
Not all minor fatalities are eligible for wrongful death claims. Under South Carolina Code Section 15-51-10, parents must prove the following:
- The defendant owed a duty of care
- They breached that duty
- The breach caused the child's death
- The family suffered damages
Burden of Proof
The burden of proof in civil wrongful death cases differs significantly from criminal cases involving a child's death. While criminal cases require proof “beyond a reasonable doubt,” civil cases use the “preponderance of evidence” standard. This means plaintiffs must show it is more likely than not that the defendant's negligence caused your child's death. Even if criminal charges were not filed or resulted in acquittal, you may still prevail in a civil wrongful death claim under this lower burden of proof.
Filing Timeline
While the standard statute of limitations for South Carolina wrongful death cases is three years, several factors affect timing in claims involving children. Government entity involvement may shorten deadlines to two years. Notice requirements vary by defendant type, and there may be special considerations regarding estate administration requirements. You may also need to consider the impact of related criminal investigations.
Modified Comparative Negligence
South Carolina follows modified comparative negligence rules, meaning compensation may be reduced if your child was partially at fault for the incident. However, you can still recover damages as long as your child was not more than 50% responsible for the incident.
For example, if your teenager was not wearing a helmet during a bicycle accident, this could impact the compensation amount. The courts may decide the speeding driver was still primarily to blame for the crash. If the courts decide your child was 20% responsible and total damages are $100,000, you may receive up to $80,000.