An appraisal of lost earnings potential includes a few different factors. The simplest (and usually the largest) is called “basic earnings.” This refers to the amount of money the deceased person would have been expected to earn if he or she had lived out the rest of his or her work life. “Incentive earnings” include stock options and bonuses. The value of incentive earnings is usually only a large percentage of overall earnings for business executives. Fringe benefits (also called “supplementary payments”) are also recoverable. These include employer-financed retirement plans, insurance, and health benefits.

An experienced Orange County wrongful death attorney will be able to help give you an idea about how much this will all amount too. Keep in mind, though, that once these values are calculated and adjusted for the life expectancy of the deceased person and for inflation, there will be a deduction for personal consumption—money the deceased person would have spent on him- or herself during his or her lifetime.

If you have lost a spouse, parent, or other family member and you believe you are eligible to file an action for wrongful death, please call Orange County wrongful death lawyer Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084 to schedule a free case evaluation.

No money can bring back a lost loved one, of course, but an experienced Orange County wrongful death lawyer can help you recover from the financial hardships you have encountered in the aftermath of the death of a family member. The most obvious of these are funeral and burial costs and the loss of income from the job of the deceased person. Somewhat less obvious is the value of the household services provided. Although the deceased person was probably not paid for these services when he or she was alive, they were a contribution to the household’s well-being that will now need to be performed by someone else.

Damages for mental and emotional distress are not available to the family of the deceased person because of grief and sorrow. However, damages may be available for loss of love, care, comfort, advice, and guidance that he or she provided.

If you have lost a spouse, parent, or other family member, you may be able to file an action to recover some of the financial costs that you have incurred as a result of his or her wrongful death. Contact an Orange County wrongful death lawyer to learn more about protecting your rights and obtaining the financial help you deserve. For a free case evaluation, please call Orange County personal injury attorney Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084.

The enormous emotional toll of the death of a loved one hits right away, but the financial impact of a wrongful death is not always readily apparent. Of course, no amount of money can replace a loved one, but an experienced Orange County wrongful death lawyer will at least help to lessen the financial burden that the death imposed.

Any death hurts many people—friends, family, and the community. However, only a person named in California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60 can file an action for wrongful death. This includes the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children (direct descendants of children who have died). An action may also be filed by stepchildren, dependent minors, and dependent parents of the deceased person.

If there is no one who falls into one of these categories, the persons who would be entitled to the property of the deceased person by intestate succession may assert a cause of action. (Intestate succession is the order in which a deceased person’s property is distributed if he or she dies without a will.) This can include parents, siblings, children of siblings, grandparents, and next of kin.

A person who believed that he or she was married to the deceased person but was not due to a technicality (if the deceased person had never divorced from a previous spouse, for example) may sue for wrongful death, as may a child who depended on the deceased person for more than half of his or her support and who lived in the deceased person’s house for at least 180 days prior to the person’s death.

If you believe you fall into one of these categories, you should contact an experienced Orange County wrongful death lawyer who can protect your rights and make sure you get the financial help you need. For a free evaluation of your case, please call Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084.

1. Geographic Area. Earnings vary by the geographic area in which a person lives. People in the Pacific Northwest tend to make more than people in the Southeast, for example.

2. Education. The relationship between education and earnings is probably the most well-established. The average earnings of any group of people tends to rise based on years of schooling completed and degrees obtained.

3. Mobility. A person who is more willing to move great distances to take advantage of career opportunities will, on average, earn more than someone who is not as willing to relocate.

4. Number of Dependents. This factor doesn’t affect earnings per se, but a person with a large number of dependents will have a lower personal consumption than a single person or someone living in a two-person household. Since personal consumption is deducted from expected lifetime earnings, the amount available for recovery is greater for someone with more children.

There are surely countless other factors that affect a person’s earning capacity—character and ambition, to name a couple. However, these are mostly subjective judgments, and are not easily quantified and plugged into equations. Therefore, an appraisal of lost earning capacity will assume average health, work habits, etc.

If you have lost a loved one due to a third party’s negligence or intentional act, you might be able to receive financial help. Please contact Orange County wrongful death attorney Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084 for a free case evaluation.

1. Occupation and Industry. Whether a person worked in a profession with a lot of opportunities for promotion or a lower-paying occupation without many prospects for advancement will affect the calculation of lost earning capacity. So will the industry in which the person worked. Was it expanding or declining? If jobs in a person’s field are likely to dry up and force a career change late in life, this will likely lead to lower expected earnings than for a person in an industry with lots of future growth.

2. Age. A working person’s earnings rise most rapidly when he or she is young. Near the end of a person’s work-life, basic earnings rise less rapidly, or even plateau.

3. Sex and Race. Though there are laws intending to prevent pay discrimination based on sex and race, women workers still tend to earn less than their male counterparts, even when doing identical work. Similarly, racial, religious, and national origin minorities often find themselves at a disadvantage earnings-wise.

If you have lost a loved one due to a wrongful death, you may be eligible to receive financial compensation. Please contact Orange County wrongful death attorney Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084 for a free case evaluation.