Heirs Hiring Separate Attorneys

Answer:

One of the complex questions we get asked about wrongful death cases is whether or not statutory survivors who have claims for the wrongful death of a loved one, can they hire separate attorneys? The short answer is they can, but just by hiring a separate attorney, a statutory survivor does not have the right to jump out and file the action to appointed PR and bring the claim. There is an order of preference for appointment of personal representative. First preference goes to the spouse, so it is the personal representative who has the right to bring the entire action. A statutory survivor other than the personal representative can hire a separate lawyer but they cannot bring a separate action. Those lawyers have to work together, the lawyer that represents the PR, the lawyer who represents the statutory survivor, and it can become very complex. It’s much more direct to allow the personal representative and the personal representative’s lawyer to bring all of the claims in consideration for all of the injured victims.