Quick Answer
What does the wrongful-death calculator actually compute?
It estimates years to the entered retirement age, grows annual support and household-services values, discounts those years to present value, then adds medical bills before death and funeral costs. Non-economic figures use fixed software multipliers and an optional cap you type in.
- Eligible survivors and allowed damage categories are questions of state law.
- Multipliers are not a statutory schedule.
- A zero cap field means no cap is applied in the model.
- Replace every sample income and age figure.
The wrongful-death compensation calculator (also available in Spanish) is a planning workbook. Families use it to see how support years, growth, discounting, funeral costs, and an optional non-economic cap interact. It is not an appraisal of a life and not a prediction of a settlement or verdict.
Who may file, which losses are recoverable, and whether non-economic damages are capped are questions of state wrongful-death and survival statutes. Confirm those rules before treating any total as meaningful. Vehicle-specific companions such as the truck wrongful-death guide address crash context; this page explains the calculator.
Inputs and what they do
Default sample values (age 42, retirement 67, $82,000 income, and similar) are illustrations. Reset returns those samples.
Worked arithmetic on the defaults (illustration only)
With the shipped defaults, support years are 25. The model grows support and household services, discounts each year, and adds $22,000 medical bills plus $14,000 funeral costs to that present value. Non-economic low/high amounts start from max($50,000, dependents × $35,000) plus the present-value support times the selected multiplier band (strong = 0.75–1.25). Those constants are software, not a damages schedule.
Change one assumption — discount rate, support percent, or cap — and the total moves. That sensitivity is the point of the tool. It is not a reason to send the default total to an insurer.
Limits
- The calculator does not identify statutory beneficiaries.
- It does not separate a survival action (losses of the decedent) from a wrongful-death action (losses of survivors).
- It does not apply tax, collateral-source, or apportionment rules.
- Economic support often needs tax returns, benefits statements, and sometimes an economist. See the expert witness guide.
- Pair any gross total with the net settlement calculator and deadline tools. Deadlines for wrongful-death claims can differ from ordinary injury deadlines.
Method checked 2026-09-18 against WrongfulDeathCompensationCalculator.tsx. That is a software review, not a 50-state damages audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does choosing a state change the math?
Are the companionship multipliers from a statute?
Can I recover punitive damages just because I entered a number?
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About this guide and its AI host
JusticeFinder publishes this educational guide. Sophia Hayes is its educational AI host, not a licensed legal professional. Learn about source verification and editorial standards through the JusticeFinder Editorial Team profile and the sources cited in this guide.
- Scope: Educational legal information only, not legal advice
- Last editorial update: September 18, 2026
Sophia Hayes
Educational Accident & Insurance Awareness Host
Sophia Hayes is JusticeFinder's educational AI host and documentary-style narrator covering U.S. accident law, insurance literacy, and public safety. She is not a lawyer, attorney, legal representative, medical professional, or insurance adjuster.
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