Video Transcript
Hi, I’m Attorney David Hood and I’ve been practicing law in South Carolina for over 30 years. One of our primary focuses is wrongful death lawsuits. People often ask, how do you file one in South Carolina? We’re going to cover that right now.
What do we need to show to file a wrongful death lawsuit in South Carolina?
The first thing that needs to be established is that the person’s death was caused by someone else’s (and not their own) actions. An example would be the death was caused by being rear ended by a truck, as opposed to a drunk driver driving into a tree. Another example would be being killed because the person was given the wrong medication and not because of an illegal drug overdose.
The Personal Representative of the estate should file the lawsuit
If the person who died (called the decedent) had a will, it should name the representative of the estate and that person should file the lawsuit.
If the decedent died without a will, the family needs to get a Personal Representative appointed by the Probate Court. Once that’s done, the Personal Representative can file a lawsuit on behalf of the estate.
Intestate law dictates what should happen when someone dies without a will
Assuming the wrongful death lawsuit is successful, South Carolina intestate law (which is when somebody dies without a will) dictates how the proceeds are to be divided up. It’ll depend upon whether there’s a surviving spouse, any children or surviving parents.
Take care, I hope this was helpful.
