You should not have to learn the law in the worst year of your life.
ClearScope Counsel LLC represents St. Louis families in Missouri wrongful death claims — fatal vehicle collisions, unsafe property, and deaths in care facilities. This page explains, plainly, the three things families ask first: who is allowed to file, how long you have, and what the law lets a family recover. When you are ready to talk, we answer within one business day. There is no fee unless we recover, and the fee is a flat 33% — in writing, before anything begins.
Please do not send records or other sensitive documents until we have completed a conflicts check. A preliminary inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in Missouri?
Missouri law sets a strict order, and the first group includes more people than most families expect: under RSMo 537.080 (in its current form since August 28, 1991), the spouse, the children, the surviving lineal descendants of any deceased children, and the deceased’s father or mother all stand together in the first class. Parents are not behind the spouse and children — they are beside them. Only if no one in that class exists does the right pass onward.
Spouse, children, grandchildren through a deceased child, or parents
All one class, natural or adopted. Any of them may bring the claim, and all of them share the same statutory standing.
Siblings, or their descendants
Only if no one in the first class is alive and entitled to sue. A brother, sister, niece, or nephew must be able to establish their right to the damages set out in RSMo 537.090.
A plaintiff ad litem
If neither class exists, the court may appoint a plaintiff ad litem to bring the claim, so a death does not go unanswered simply because no family remains to sue.
One more rule from the same statute shapes everything: only one action may be brought against any one defendant for the death of any one person. A family does not file competing lawsuits; the claim is a single case, however many people share in it.
How long does a family have to file — three years or five?
Three. A Missouri wrongful death lawsuit must be filed within three years of the death (RSMo 537.100) — not the five years that applies to ordinary injury claims under RSMo 516.120. The five-year figure is the one people find first when they search, because it is the general injury rule. It is the wrong number for a death case, and the two-year difference has ended claims.
The same statute carries a second, quieter deadline, added effective August 28, 2018 (S.B. 871): when a defendant is served after the limitations period has expired, service must be completed within 180 days of filing the petition, or the court must dismiss the action against that defendant. Filing on the last day and serving at leisure is not an option Missouri leaves open.
Three years is real time. It is enough room to grieve first and act deliberately — and not enough to set the question aside indefinitely. If you are also weighing an injury claim for someone who survived, the deadlines differ; our explainer on Missouri’s filing deadline and our catastrophic injury page cover that side.
What damages does Missouri wrongful death law allow?
Missouri lets the jury award what is fair and just for the death and the loss it caused — and the statute names the losses. Under RSMo 537.090 (in its current form since August 28, 2005), that includes the pecuniary losses suffered by reason of the death, funeral expenses, and the reasonable value of the services, consortium, companionship, comfort, instruction, guidance, counsel, training, and support the person provided. It also includes damages the deceased suffered between the injury and the death.
The statute draws one line families deserve to hear plainly, before an insurer says it first: damages for grief and bereavement, as such, are not recoverable in Missouri. The claim is measured by what was lost — the support, the companionship, the guidance — not by the sorrow itself. An attorney’s job is to prove the full measure of those named losses, because they are the vessel the law provides.
Two details in the same statute work in a family’s favor. Where the deceased provided care to a family member, the statute presumes the value of that care at 110% of the state average weekly wage. And a family treated on the way out of a hospital should know this: under Missouri case law noted in the Revisor’s annotations to this section, hospital liens do not attach to wrongful death settlements (American Family Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ward, 774 S.W.2d 135 (Mo. banc 1989)).
Is a survival action different from a wrongful death claim?
Yes — a wrongful death claim belongs to the family for its own losses, while a survival-type claim carries forward what the deceased personally suffered. Missouri folds much of that second category directly into the wrongful death case: RSMo 537.090 expressly allows the trier of fact to award such damages as the deceased suffered between the time of injury and the time of death. When someone lives for days or months after a collision or a fall before dying of the injuries — the pattern in many catastrophic injury cases — that period is part of the claim, not lost to it.
Which claims exist, and in what combination, depends on the cause of death and who survives. It is a sorting question we answer at intake — deliberately, in writing, before anything is filed.
What does it cost to bring a wrongful death case?
Nothing upfront, and nothing ever unless there is a recovery. Wrongful death matters are handled on a flat 33% contingency fee — the same third whether the case settles early or is tried, confirmed in a written agreement before representation begins. Know the number before you commit. A grieving family should not also have to wonder what the lawyer’s meter is doing.
Deaths in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are wrongful death claims with their own evidence trail — care plans, staffing records, state inspection surveys. Our nursing home abuse page covers what to preserve. Fatal crashes begin with the collision investigation itself; our car accident page covers those first steps.
No recovery is guaranteed. Court, government, and third-party costs are separate from the attorney fee and are set out before representation begins.
There is no script for this call.
Tell us what happened in whatever order it comes. We will tell you, plainly, whether there is a claim, who holds it, and what the next step is — and if the matter is not one we should handle, we will say so and point you to counsel who should.
Questions families ask first.
Missouri permits only one action against any one defendant for the death of one person (RSMo 537.080.2). Family members in the same class do not file competing suits; the claim proceeds as a single case. Sorting out who participates is something we handle at the start, not something the family has to litigate against itself.
A person the court appoints to bring the claim when no one else can. Under RSMo 537.080, a plaintiff ad litem is available only when the deceased left no spouse, children, descendants of deceased children, parents, siblings, or siblings’ descendants entitled to sue.
No. Start with what you know — what happened, when, and where. We obtain the records, the reports, and the certificate through the proper channels once conflicts are cleared. The three-year clock does not wait for paperwork, so the conversation should come first.
No. Wrongful death matters are handled on a flat 33% contingency fee. There are no upfront attorney fees or costs — the family pays nothing unless we recover on its behalf.
No. An attorney-client relationship begins only after conflicts are cleared and a written engagement agreement is signed.
Grieve first. Then let us carry the legal part.
Wrongful death representation for families in St. Louis and across Missouri. Related pages: catastrophic injury, nursing home abuse, and car & truck accidents. No attorney-client relationship is formed until conflicts are cleared and an engagement agreement is signed.