Key takeaways
- The general Wrongful Death Act allows reasonable medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses and lost earnings, and directs the remaining damages to a surviving spouse, dependent children, or dependent next of kin.
- The Adult Wrongful Death Act permits specified expenses and loss of love and companionship. Its $300,000 cap applies to aggregate love-and-companionship damages, not the specified expense damages.
- The Adult Wrongful Death Act excludes grief damages and punitive damages and bars evidence of the adult person’s lost earnings.
- The Child Wrongful Death Act defines who qualifies as a child, identifies who may maintain the action, lists recoverable categories, sets the recovery period for loss of services, and separately sets the recovery period for loss of love and companionship.
Which Indiana wrongful-death statute applies?
Indiana uses different statutory frameworks depending on the person who died and the family circumstances. Our Indiana wrongful-death practice page explains how Delventhal Law Office approaches these claims, while our guide to survival actions versus wrongful-death claims explains the distinction between claims belonging to an estate and claims arising from a death.
| Statute | Statutory setting | Who maintains the action |
|---|---|---|
| Indiana Code § 34-23-1-1[1] | Death caused by another person’s wrongful act or omission when the deceased person could have maintained an action for the same act or omission if the person had lived. | The deceased person’s personal representative. |
| Indiana Code § 34-23-1-2[2] | An "adult person" as specially defined: either an unmarried individual with no dependents who is not a child under section 34-23-2-1, or a married individual with no dependents whose death was caused by that individual’s spouse. | Only the adult person’s personal representative. |
| Indiana Code § 34-23-2-1[3] | Injury or death of a "child" as that section defines the term. | The parents, custodial person, guardian, or personal representative specified in Indiana Code § 34-23-2-1[3](c) and (d). |
Damages under the general Wrongful Death Act
Indiana Code § 34-23-1-1[4] permits damages that include reasonable medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses and the deceased person’s lost earnings resulting from the wrongful act or omission.
The portion recovered for medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses benefits the estate exclusively for payment of those expenses. The remainder benefits the surviving spouse, dependent children, or dependent next of kin and is distributed in the same manner as the deceased person’s personal property.
If none of those beneficiaries survives, the section limits recovery to specified providers of necessary and reasonable last-illness medical or hospital services, funeral or burial services, and the personal representative for necessary and reasonable costs of administering the estate and prosecuting or compromising the action, including a reasonable attorney fee.
Damages under the Adult Wrongful Death Act
Indiana Code § 34-23-1-2[5] permits reasonable medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses necessitated by the wrongful act or omission and damages for loss of the adult person’s love and companionship.
The expense damages benefit the adult person’s estate exclusively for payment of those expenses. The remainder benefits the adult person’s nondependent parent or nondependent child. A parent or child seeking recovery must prove a genuine, substantial, and ongoing relationship with the adult person.
Under Indiana Code § 34-23-1-2[5], the aggregate recovery for loss of love and companionship may not exceed $300,000. That cap applies to the companionship category, not the separately listed medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses.
The same Adult Wrongful Death Act section[5] does not allow damages for a person’s grief or punitive damages. It also provides that the court or jury may not hear evidence concerning lost earnings resulting from the wrongful act or omission.
Damages under the Child Wrongful Death Act
Indiana Code § 34-23-2-1[6] defines a child as an unmarried individual without dependents who is younger than 20, or younger than 23 and enrolled in a postsecondary educational institution or a career and technical education school or program that is not a postsecondary educational program. The definition includes a fetus that has attained viability as defined elsewhere in the Indiana Code.
The Child Wrongful Death Act[6] provides that the action may be maintained by the father and mother jointly, or by either parent who names the other parent as a codefendant to answer as to that parent’s interest. After divorce or dissolution, the person awarded custody may maintain it. A guardian may maintain an action for the injury or death of a protected person. If the person awarded custody has died, a personal representative must be appointed to maintain the action.
Recoverable categories are loss of the child’s services; loss of the child’s love and companionship; and expenses for necessary health care and hospitalization caused by the wrongful act or omission, funeral and burial, required psychiatric or psychological counseling incurred by a surviving parent or minor sibling because of the child’s death, uninsured debts of the child, and administration of the child’s estate, including reasonable attorney fees.
Indiana Code § 34-23-2-1(g) and (h)[6] provide that loss-of-services damages are limited to the period from the child’s death until the earlier of the date the child would have reached age 20, or age 23 when the statutory enrollment condition applies, or the date of the last surviving parent’s death. Loss-of-love-and-companionship damages run from the child’s death until the last surviving parent’s death.
Damages for loss of services, loss of love and companionship, qualifying counseling, and uninsured debts benefit the parents jointly when both had custody; otherwise they benefit the custodial parent or custodial grandparent and the noncustodial parent as apportioned by the court, or a custodial grandparent if no surviving parent is entitled to benefit. A parent or grandparent who abandoned the child while the child was alive cannot recover under the chapter.
Practical organization guidance from Delventhal Law Office
Delventhal guidance, not a statement of legal requirements: A family may find it useful to organize records by claimed category, such as expense records, earnings or support information, and materials showing the relevant family relationships. Our first-consultation document checklist offers a practical starting point; families do not need to have every item before asking for help.
What filing deadline does the general statute state?
Indiana Code § 34-23-1-1[4] states that the personal representative must commence the action within two years after the person’s death.
Talk with Delventhal Law Office
Wrongful-death questions can feel especially difficult when a family is also managing loss and estate responsibilities. A calm consultation with Delventhal Law Office can cover the applicable Indiana framework, the proper filing party, relevant damages categories, and timing rules for the family’s circumstances. To start that conversation, request a free case evaluation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who files an Indiana wrongful-death case?
Under sections 34-23-1-1 and 34-23-1-2, the personal representative maintains the action. Section 34-23-2-1 has different rules for a child’s injury or death: specified parents, a custodial person after divorce or dissolution, or a guardian may maintain the action, and a personal representative must be appointed if the person awarded custody has died.
Does the Adult Wrongful Death Act cap every category at $300,000?
No. The $300,000 limit applies to aggregate damages for loss of the adult person’s love and companionship. It does not apply to the separately listed medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses.
Does the Adult Wrongful Death Act allow grief, punitive, or lost-earnings damages?
It excludes damages for grief and punitive damages. It also bars the court or jury from hearing evidence concerning the adult person’s lost earnings resulting from the wrongful act or omission.
Who is a child under the Child Wrongful Death Act?
The section defines a child as an unmarried individual without dependents who is younger than 20, or younger than 23 and meets the specified education or training enrollment condition. It also includes a fetus that has attained viability as defined elsewhere in the Indiana Code.
What recovery periods apply under the Child Wrongful Death Act?
Loss-of-services damages end at the earlier of the applicable age threshold or the last surviving parent’s death. Loss-of-love-and-companionship damages run until the last surviving parent’s death.
What deadline does Indiana Code § 34-23-1-1[1] impose?
It requires the personal representative to commence the action within two years after the person’s death.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Representation begins only through a written agreement. Do not send confidential or time-sensitive information before representation is confirmed.
