Your family's rights under the Fatal Accidents Act
When negligence takes a life, in a collision, a workplace incident outside WCB coverage, or any other preventable event, Alberta's Fatal Accidents Act gives specific family members claims. These include statutory bereavement damages for spouses or partners, parents, and children, set at fixed amounts by legislation, plus claims for the financial support and household contributions the deceased provided, grief counselling costs, and funeral expenses.
The deceased's estate may also hold separate claims. Sorting out who claims what, and coordinating with life insurance, WCB, and CPP survivor benefits, is part of what we manage for families.
Dependency: the largest and hardest part
The core of most fatal claims is the dependency claim: the income, benefits, and unpaid work, childcare, home maintenance, and caregiving, the deceased would have provided over a lifetime. Valuing it requires economists and careful evidence, and insurers fight it hardest precisely because it matters most to the family's future.
Alberta Accident Law works on a full contingency basis: you pay nothing unless we win. There are no hourly rates, no retainers, and no bill if your claim does not succeed. Your case review is free, confidential, and carries no obligation, so finding out where you stand costs you nothing.
How we handle these cases
With patience and directness. We deal with every insurer and procedural requirement, keep you informed without burying you in process, and take direction at your pace. There are deadlines, generally 2 years, so an early conversation protects your options even if you are not ready to decide anything yet.
Red Deer injury lawsuits are heard at the Red Deer Justice Centre, in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. Smaller claims may proceed in the Alberta Court of Justice.