When another person injures you, the next step would typically be to file a lawsuit against them. But how are you supposed to recover compensation in New Jersey if the person who injured you died?
Fortunately, your legal right to file an action does not end with the passing of a negligent party. Instead, that right must be directed at the deceased person’s estate. The person might not still be alive to go to court, but they likely left possessions, like financial assets and personal property. These assets comprise the estate, which you can sue in place of the person. Our lawyers can help you file your claim in civil court to recover compensation. If the estate refuses to pay your civil judgment, we can argue for its enforcement during probate – the stage where the will and assets are being counted and sorted in court. While many parties might be competing for payment during probate, you have every right to pursue compensation from a deceased person who injured you.
For a free, private case evaluation with our New Jersey personal injury attorneys, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. today at (201) 777-1111.
Is it Possible to Sue a Deceased Person for Damages They Caused in New Jersey?
Obviously, a person who has passed away cannot defend themselves in court, regardless of the harm they caused in life. However, that does not mean you cannot recover compensation in New Jersey for damages they caused before passing away. Our personal injury attorneys in New Jersey can help file your claim and explain how the deceased’s estate can compensate your losses. Death does not invalidate a victim’s right to sue for personal injury damages. Instead, your claim survives and must be filed against the deceased’s “estate,” managed by the decedent’s personal representative. According to N.J.S.A. § 3B:10-25, a personal representative of an estate has the same standing to be sued as the deceased would have had if they survived.
Still, you have the same amount of time to file a lawsuit against a deceased person’s estate as you would have if they had survived. § 2A:14-2(a) gives you two years to file a personal injury lawsuit in civil court. There, the estate’s personal representative must pay for your damages, like medical bills, lost income, and non-economic losses, if the deceased is found liable. If your lawsuit is filed after the two-year deadline, the personal representative will move to dismiss it, which the court will grant. Worse, you will then have no other legal recourse to cover your losses.
How Does the Process Work When Suing a Deceased Person’s Estate in New Jersey?
When someone passes away in New Jersey, it does not change how we recover compensation. We will file a lawsuit in civil court against the estate to get a “judgment,” which is the court order directing the estate to pay the damages awarded. We will negotiate with the estate’s lawyers and take the case to a jury if a settlement cannot be reached. If we settle or receive a judgment, your award should cover the losses you would have received had the defendant survived, like economic damages and “pain and suffering.”
However, it is important to understand how the deceased’s estate is assessed and the processes it might undergo. If the personal representative does not pay your rightful compensation, we can file a claim in probate court to have the judgment enforced.
The Deceased’s Estate
An estate is a legal object representing the deceased’s assets, including their financial assets, real estate properties, personal property, and anything else they owned when they passed. The personal representative’s job is to manage the estate. They will assess the deceased’s assets and determine how they should be distributed to their heirs. If the deceased left a will, it will likely name the person to act as the personal representative or “executor.” It could be a spouse, family member, or close friend, whoever the deceased trusted to act in their interest after their death. The probate court will also prioritize, observe, and perform wills regarding how the estate is distributed to the deceased’s heirs, as per § 3B:10-16.
However, the estate’s personal representative must reconcile claims against the estate before distributing the proceeds to its heirs. This would include your personal injury claim, as well as claims from creditors, banks, and anyone else the deceased was liable to in life. Instead of fielding all these potential claims in individual suits, probate consolidates them into one legal process.
One major hurdle to recovering compensation from a deceased person is if they placed their assets in a device designed to avoid probate, such as a trust or Totten account. Individuals typically set up these legal instruments specifically to protect their estate from probate, thereby protecting it from potential lawsuits.
Probate Court
“Probate” is the legal process by which the deceased’s assets and legal liabilities are assessed, and their estate is distributed to their “heirs.” Generally, a probate judge oversees the abovementioned details and decides the appropriate law in each situation. However, the probate process will usually take place in the county court where the deceased lived at the time they passed, as opposed to the county where the accident that gave rise to the claim occurred.
We can determine which probate court to file your claim in if the deceased’s estate has not paid the compensation the court awarded. We do not need to prove the case again, though, as we already did that in the civil suit. We simply need to file the judgment with the appropriate probate court so that the judge can factor it in when distributing the proceeds of the estate. We can represent you in both claims so that your interests are protected throughout the process, and your judgment is given priority among the other claims against the deceased.
Call Our New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Recovering Compensation from a Deceased Individual’s Estate
Call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 for a free case review with our Bayonne, NJ personal injury attorneys.