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Ohio Wrongful Death Lawyers
Losing someone to another person's negligence changes everything. Our family has stood with grieving Ohio families since 1953.
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Since 1953
Family-Owned Firm
Millions Won
For Our Clients
3 Generations
of Knisley Attorneys
No Fees
Unless We Win
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Claim in Ohio?
In Ohio, a wrongful death claim is filed by the personal representative of your loved one's estate, for the benefit of the family. The surviving spouse, children, and parents are presumed to have been harmed by
the loss.
In Ohio, a wrongful death claim belongs to the family and is brought through the estate under R.C. Chapter 2125. The claim arises when a death is caused by a wrongful act or neglect, the same kind of conduct that would have supported an Ohio personal injury claim if your loved one had survived. One person, called the personal representative, files it on behalf of the whole family. That way, a grieving family does not have to organize a lawsuit in the middle of a loss. It does mean the first legal step is often a probate step, and we handle that part too.
The claim can protect
The surviving spouse
The children
The parents
Other next of kin who can show what they lost
What families should know early
The claim generally must be filed within two years of the date of death
A personal representative must be appointed to bring it
Probate court reviews any settlement before it is final
What is a survival claim, and how is it different?
A wrongful death claim compensates the family for what the death took from them. A survival claim is different: it is your loved one's own claim, for what he or she suffered from injury to death, and it passes to the estate. The two claims usually proceed together, are handled together, and the difference matters because each claim compensates different losses for different people. You do not have to sort this out. It is our job to bring every claim the law allows.
Do we have to go through probate court?
Some of the claim may have to run through probate, and we take care of those steps. The court will appoint the personal representative, review any settlement, and approve its division among the family. That oversight is for the protection of the family, particularly children, and does not mean a courtroom battle. For most families it means paperwork we prepare, hearings we attend, and updates we relay to you in plain English.
What to Do After a
Wrongful Death in Ohio
Nothing has to happen in the first few days, and you are not required to speak with any insurance company. When your family is ready, these steps protect the claim.
Keep What
You Receive
Set aside reports, medical records, and bills as they arrive. Keeping the paper copies are enough, and we gather the rest.
Let Insurance Calls Come To Us
You do not owe anyone a statement or a signature,
no matter how kind the
caller sounds.
Appoint A Personal Representative
This probate step opens the claim, and we prepare and file it for you.
Mind the
Two-Year Clock
Ohio generally allows two years from the date of death to file suit (R.C. 2125.02). We keep track, so you don't have to.
Compensation Your Family Can Recover in an Ohio Wrongful
Death Claim
An Ohio wrongful death claim can compensate your family for the support and services your loved one provided, the companionship and guidance the family lost, the family's mental anguish, and funeral and burial costs.
Lost Support And Services
The income your loved one provided, and the everyday work of a household that now falls to others.
Loss Of Companionship
​The kind of loss the law defines as loss of society: the presence, care, and guidance
a spouse, parent, or child provided to
the family.
The Family's Mental Anguish
Ohio law recognizes the grief itself as a compensable harm to the surviving family.
Funeral And Burial Costs
The costs of laying your loved one to rest belong in the claim, not on the family.
What is a wrongful death claim worth?
There is no set price, and no number that answers the real loss. The legal value relies on who depended on your loved one, their age and earnings, the services and guidance they provided, the family's anguish, and the insurance available. We cannot promise a number, but we can make sure nothing the law recognizes gets left out.
Where the conduct that caused the death was malicious or reckless beyond ordinary negligence, the survival claim may open the door to punitive damages.
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Dealing With the
Insurance Company
Insurers reach out to grieving families quickly, and the early call is not kindness. It is a chance to settle before your family knows what the law protects. You owe them nothing right now.
The adjuster who calls in the first weeks will sound sympathetic, and the check they offer will sound like help. It's priced on the hope that a grieving family will not total what was actually lost: the years of support, the guidance for children, the anguish the law itself says counts. A signed release ends the claim forever, for every member of the family it covers. There is no conversation you are required to have and no paper you are required to sign. Send every call to us, and spend that time with your family instead.
Why the first offer is almost never the real number
First offers come in while the family is in mourning, priced on the hope that no one will ever tally what was really lost. When a lifetime of support, guidance, and companionship is valued as the law permits, the number changes.
Wrongful Death Cases We Handle
We represent Ohio families after fatal crashes, workplace and construction deaths, drunk driving deaths, deaths on unsafe property, and other losses caused by negligence.
Fatal car crashes
Fatal truck crashes
Deaths caused by careless drivers on Ohio
roads, one of the wrongful death claims we see
most often.
Commercial truck deaths, where a chain of companies and larger policies may answer for the loss.
Fatal motorcycle and
pedestrian deaths
Riders and people on foot who never had a chance against a vehicle, and the families
they leave.
Workplace and
construction deaths
Deaths on the job, where Workers' Comp death benefits and a wrongful death claim can
both apply.
Drunk and reckless driving deaths
Deaths caused by impaired or reckless drivers, where punitive damages may come into play.
Fatal dog attacks
While rare and devastating, Ohio's strict liability dog law can cover someone when a dog attack is fatal.
Deaths on unsafe property
Falls and other fatal harms where a property owner failed to fix or warn about a danger.
Care facility deaths
Deaths from neglect in the places families trusted with their loved ones' care.
How Our Ohio Wrongful Death Attorneys Help
Our family carries the legal weight so yours can grieve.
Handling the Probate Steps
We prepare the personal representative appointment, attend the hearings, and manage the court approval every settlement needs.
Valuing a Lifetime of Support
We review the records, and consult with experts as necessary, to determine the value of the support, services, and guidance your loved one gave.
Investigating the Death
We gather the reports, records, and witness accounts, and bring in experts when the cause of death is disputed.
Negotiating Your Family's Settlement
We push back on early offers with the full picture of the loss, and nothing is final without the family and the court.
Dealing With the Insurance Company
Every call, letter, and offer goes through us, so your family never has to sit across from an adjuster.
Filing Suit and Trial
If the insurance company won't pay fairly, we file a lawsuit within two years and present your family's case to a jury.
One conversation starts everything. Bring whatever you have, or nothing at all. We gather the reports, prepare the probate filings, take the insurer calls, and keep your family informed at the pace you choose. Grief has no deadline. The claim does, and we watch it so you do not have to.
Three generations of our attorneys have done this work, and it costs nothing up front: we charge no fee unless your family recovers.
Did You Lose Someone to a Workplace Accident?
If your loved one died from a workplace accident, your family may have two claims: Ohio Workers' Comp death benefits and this wrongful death claim against whoever caused it. We handle both under one roof.
Your Workers' Comp Claim
No-fault, runs through the BWC
Provides dependency benefits and a funeral allowance to the family, no matter who caused the death.
Your Wrongful Death Claim
Against whoever caused the death
Adds the companionship, guidance, and mental anguish that Workers' Comp does not pay.
The two claims are connected. The BWC is entitled to be reimbursed from a third-party recovery for part of what it paid the family, and we negotiate that down so the family keeps more. When one firm manages both claims, the two insurers cannot use one against the other, and we time each settlement so that one check does not reduce what your family keeps from the other.
Related Personal Injury Cases We Handle
Our family also handles these related personal injury cases for injured Ohioans.
Semi and commercial truck crashes, where federal rules and bigger policies change the case.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Wrongful Death in Ohio
