Due to someone else’s negligence, your loved one passes away unexpectedly. You quickly have to learn how to adjust to not having an income, as they were the main worker for the family, and you have to find the money for funeral costs and possibly for their final medical expenses.
You know that you can seek compensation for these costs, as they never would have happened if your loved one hadn’t passed away and if that third party hadn’t been negligent. But what about the money that your spouse was going to earn in the future? Does that factor in as part of your claim?
You can seek compensation for money that hasn’t been earned yet
It is true that you can seek compensation for the money that your spouse would have made in the future. This is often referred to as future earning capacity. It is still a significant financial loss, and it can change your life.
How do you calculate this? It can be complicated, but you start by considering how long your spouse would have worked and how much they were earning. If they were going to work for another decade or two, that’s a significant amount of money that they would have earned had they still been alive to do so. You also may need to consider things like promotions, pay raises or bonuses. Perhaps they were on a career path that was going to lead to a serious raise in the next year, and they would have earned far more than they were at the time of their death.
This whole process can be difficult to get through, but it’s important to understand what options you have and exactly what steps you should take. An experienced team can help you get the compensation your family needs to get through this time.