When a family member dies, their entire household usually struggles. Grief is a difficult emotion to manage, and it can last for years. Additionally, there are countless practical issues that families have to consider when a loved one dies unexpectedly.
State law allows those grieving an unexpected and preventable tragedy to pursue wrongful death lawsuits in certain circumstances. If a person or business caused a death through negligent behavior or wrongful acts, those left behind may be able to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.
Lost wages are often one of the key financial contributors to the overall value of a wrongful death lawsuit. However, the person who died may not have worked outside of the home. Instead, they may have provided support for their family by raising children, caring for the home and managing all major family needs.
How can families hold the right party accountable for causing the death of a stay-at-home parent?
Unpaid labor has an economic value
People are often very dismissive about the value of the labor required to maintain a household. Still, those services could prove very costly if people have to hire professionals to take over a deceased loved one’s responsibilities. Stay-at-home parents provide an average of $4,500 worth of unpaid services for their families every month. In some cases, their labor could be worth far more than that. Families may need help creating a working estimate of the value of the unpaid services of their loved one who died.
Calculating the value of unpaid work
The first step toward calculating the economic value of uncompensated labor is to outline what tasks an individual provided for the family. The stay-at-home parent likely provided full-time childcare services. They may have also provided transportation support by driving the children to and from school, medical appointments and extracurricular activities.
They may have planned household menus and gone grocery shopping. Cooking, cleaning and even lawn maintenance are all services that people provide for their families that have a specific economic value. Estimating the amount of time a stay-at-home parent devoted to different tasks and then reviewing the fair market wages offered for professionals providing those services can help create a workable estimation of the long-term harm caused by the loss of their services.
Families seeking to optimize their recovery in a wrongful death lawsuit may need help quantifying their losses and preparing for litigation, and that’s okay. Identifying different expenses generated by the sudden passing of a stay-at-home parent can help families in their pursuit of justice.
