Short answer: yes—through two different legal “buckets.” In Kentucky, money tied to a loved one’s earnings can be recovered (1) for what was lost between injury and death and (2) for the value of the life-long earning power destroyed by the death. Those two buckets pay out to different people, through different procedures.
The two buckets of recovery (and who gets paid)
1) Survival action → the estate
This claim covers losses before death, including wages the person missed from the date of injury until passing, plus medical bills and pre-death pain and suffering. These proceeds are paid to the estate and then distributed in probate like other estate assets.
2) Wrongful death → the statutory beneficiaries
This claim compensates the destruction of the decedent’s power to earn money (the lifetime earning capacity cut short by the death), plus funeral expenses; punitive damages may be available in egregious cases. Kentucky courts have long described the measure of wrongful-death damages as the value of the destruction of earning power, calculated without regard to who survived—distribution to family is handled by statute after the amount is set.
Distribution of wrongful-death proceeds. The Personal Representative (PR) files the case, and the recovery is split by statute (e.g., spouse and children share; if no spouse, to children; if none, to parents; otherwise to the estate).
How “lost wages” are actually proven
- Pre-death wages (survival): pay stubs or employer letters (or business books if self-employed), calendars of missed days, and medical records tying the inability to work to the injury. These are estate damages.
- Post-death earning power (wrongful death): economists model the present value of the decedent’s lifetime earning capacity using work-life expectancy, wage growth, and benefits—this is not a simple multiplication of last year’s income. Kentucky cases recognize this as the core measure in wrongful death.
FAQs
Who files the claims?
The Personal Representative (appointed in probate) files both the survival and wrongful-death counts.
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Do survivors’ needs change the amount?
No. Courts determine the value of the destroyed earning power independent of who survived; distribution to spouse/children/parents follows the statute.
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Can the spouse also claim loss of consortium?
Yes—spousal consortium is a separate claim outside the wrongful-death distribution scheme. (We handle the allocation in the settlement order.)
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What about wages between the injury and death?
Those belong in the survival bucket and are paid to the estate (then out through probate).
What Morrin Law Office does for your family
- Open probate & appoint the PR so we can file correctly and receive funds.
- Build both buckets: pre-death wage loss (survival) and life-long earning power (wrongful death), with economists and vocational proof where needed.
- Draft clear allocations so the court can approve distributions to heirs under Kentucky’s statute.
- No upfront fees—free consultation; contingency fee (we’re paid only if we recover).
References & Further Reading
- KRS 411.130 — Wrongful death (PR prosecutes; distribution; punitive possibility). Legislative Research Commission
- KRS 411.140 — Survival of actions (pre-death injury losses go to the estate). Legislative Research Commission
- Adams v. Davis / Luttrell v. Wood — Kentucky decisions reiterating that wrongful-death damages measure the destruction of earning power, not the survivors’ needs. CaseMine
- Dept. of Educ. v. Blevins — wrongful-death claim includes destruction of power to earn money and funeral expenses. Justia
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