Fort Worth Wrongful Death Lawyer

There is no legal case that can give you back the person you lost. But Texas law does provide a path to hold the responsible party accountable, and to recover the financial support your family needs to move forward. Patterson Law Group has handled wrongful death cases throughout Fort Worth and Tarrant County for more than 30 years.

In 2024 we secured the highest wrongful death settlement in Texas — an 8-figure result for one family. Across all our cases we've recovered over $100 million, and we hold a 5.0 rating across 483+ Google reviews. We work with grieving families with the patience, compassion, and tenacity they deserve.

While you take care of your family, we take care of everything else: the investigation, the insurance fight, the court filings, the experts. When the at-fault carrier refuses a reasonable within-limits demand, the Texas Stowers doctrine can expose the insurer to liability for any excess judgment — a key piece of leverage in serious Tarrant County wrongful-death cases. The consultation is free and confidential. You pay no attorney fees unless we recover for your family.

Wrongful Death Cases We Handle in Fort Worth

A wrongful death claim can arise from any conduct that would have given the deceased a personal injury claim if they had survived. The cases we see most often in Tarrant County include:

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas?

Texas Wrongful Death law is governed by Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. The Wrongful Death Act itself runs from §71.001 through §71.012, and the companion Survival Action statute runs from §71.021 through §71.031 (preserving claims that survive the decedent and belong to the estate). Section §71.004 defines the statutory beneficiaries who have standing — a narrow class:

• Surviving Spouse

  The husband or wife of the deceased has a claim for the loss of companionship, love, and financial support.

• Children

  Both minor and adult children can bring claims for the loss of their parent's guidance, nurturing, and financial support.

• Parents

  The parents of a deceased child — adult or minor — may bring a claim for the loss of companionship and services.

Siblings and grandparents do not have standing under §71.004 — Texas law is intentionally narrow on this point. If no eligible family member files within three months of the death, the estate's personal representative may file on behalf of the family. The two-year statute of limitations under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.003 applies to both the Wrongful Death claim (§71.001 et seq.) and the Survival Action (§71.021 et seq.). For grossly-negligent or felony-DWI conduct, exemplary damages are available under §41.003 and §41.008, with felony-DWI as one of the statutory exceptions that can lift or remove the §41.008 cap.

Damages Available in a Texas Wrongful Death Case

Tarrant County Fatal-Crash Corridors

A meaningful share of the Wrongful Death cases we handle in Fort Worth arise from fatal crashes on a handful of recurring Tarrant County corridors. Knowing where and how these crashes happen — and which agencies respond, which courts handle the docket, and which defense firms appear — is part of how we run these cases:

• I-35W. Fatal truck and high-speed crashes between downtown Fort Worth and the Alliance Airport / Texas Motor Speedway freight corridor — including the heavy commercial-truck volume from the Alliance trucking and distribution hub.
• I-820 (Loop 820). The Tarrant County loop. Fatal multi-vehicle pileups at the I-35W / I-820 north interchange and the I-30 / I-820 west interchange.
• I-30. The Fort Worth–Arlington–Dallas spine. Fatal DWI crashes, weekend high-speed collisions, and chain-reaction wrecks in the heavy Six Flags / AT&T Stadium event corridor.
• I-20. The south Tarrant County corridor. Heavy commercial-truck volume between I-35W and the Dallas County line.
• US-287. Northbound from Fort Worth into Wise and Montague Counties — fatal head-on crashes in the two-lane undivided sections are a recurring fact pattern.
• Chisholm Trail Parkway. The southwest Fort Worth tollway connecting downtown to Cleburne — high posted speeds and fatal weekend crashes.
• SH-114 and SH-121. The northeast Tarrant County corridors through Grapevine, Southlake, and the DFW Airport perimeter — heavy commercial and commuter volume.
• Alliance Airport / I-35W trucking corridor. One of the densest freight nodes in North Texas. Fatal commercial-truck crashes here implicate Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, driver-logbook discovery, and corporate-defendant insurance towers — different litigation profile from a personal-auto fatality.

Where Fort Worth Wrongful Death Cases Are Filed

Tarrant County Wrongful Death lawsuits are filed in the Tarrant County District Courts at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun Street, downtown Fort Worth. Tarrant County operates a deep civil bench, with multiple district courts handling the Wrongful Death docket — including the 17th, 48th, 67th, 96th, 141st, 153rd, 236th, 342nd, 348th, 352nd, 360th, and 432nd District Courts. Statutory county courts at law handle smaller-dollar matters at the Tarrant County Courthouse complex on Weatherford Street.

For crashes that happened in Arlington, Mansfield, Grapevine, Keller, Southlake, North Richland Hills, Bedford, Euless, Hurst, Haltom City, Watauga, or anywhere else in Tarrant County, the case is still filed in Fort Worth. We handle the venue and the filings — you focus on your family. Drunk drivers cause a meaningful share of these cases — Texas ranks among the nation’s worst states for fatal drunk-driving crashes.

Cases with diversity of citizenship or substantial federal-law issues can be filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, at the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse, 501 W 10th Street, Fort Worth. We know the local judges, the defense firms that operate in this market, and how each court runs its Wrongful Death docket.

Texas Deadlines That Apply to Your Family

Why Fort Worth Families Choose Patterson Law Group

• Local Fort Worth office at 2409 Forest Park Blvd — we meet you at our office, your home, or wherever is easier
• 2024 highest Texas wrongful-death settlement — 8-figure result
• $100M+ recovered for injured and bereaved Texans
• 5.0 stars across 483+ Google reviews
• 30+ years serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County
• Trial-ready — we prepare every case as if it's going to a Tarrant County jury
• Se Habla Español
• No fee unless we recover for your family

Frequently Asked Questions