In a Georgia wrongful death claim, the plaintiffs need to establish that the defendant caused someone’s death through either their misconduct or their negligence. When they file the lawsuit, they also need to request a specific amount of compensation from the responsible party.
Georgia’s wrongful death law permits plaintiffs filing such lawsuits to claim the full value of someone’s life. Determining the value of someone’s life can be one of the more challenging steps in the process.
When the person who dies unexpectedly is the primary wage-earner for the family, calculating the value of their life will involve looking at their benefits and salary, as well as the services they provided around the home. For a stay-at-home parent with no income, it may initially seem like there is nothing to claim, but their work around the home is actually worth quite a bit.
Unpaid services have real economically value
A stay-at-home spouse provides support for their family in many ways, allowing the other parent to focus on their career. If your spouse provided around-the-clock childcare for your children, managed the household schedule and cooked the meals for the family, the services that they provided were worth thousands of dollars a year. A full-time stay-at-home parent does work that would cost more than $170,000 a year if the family were to hire those services out to professionals.
Looking at the value of the work they do around the house and the impact of their unexpected passing on the children in the family can help you put a price on the loss of a stay-at-home parent. Understanding the rules that govern Georgia’s wrongful death claims will make it easier for families to take civil action.
