Who can bring an action for wrongful death?

Stephen D. Phillips: He explains that the claim is brought for the heirs-at-law as defined by the Illinois intestacy statutes: usually the spouse and children, otherwise the parents and siblings.

Attorney Stephen D. Phillips · Wrongful Death · 1-minute 7-second answer

Transcript

Automatically transcribed from the video’s audio and lightly edited.

The people who can bring in action for the wrongful death of a person are the heirs-at-law. And the heirs-at-law are determined by the statutes of the state. In Illinois, the heirs-at-law are determined by what’s called the Intestacy Statutes. If a person had passed without a will, those would be as heirs-at-law. And what that means as a practical matter is if a person dies and leaves children, those children and the surviving spouse are the heirs-at-law. That’s who the claim is brought on behalf of. If the person dies without being married, his children still have a claim. If a person dies without being married and without children, then it goes upwards and then the parents, his parents have a claim as well as his siblings. So that’s determined as a matter of law with regard to the laws in the state of Illinois.

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