Losing someone to another person’s negligence is disorienting in a way that’s hard to describe. Grief arrives before you have a chance to breathe, and legal decisions arrive right alongside it. What many Kirkland families discover—sometimes weeks after the loss—is that Washington law provides two distinct legal claims in these situations, and pursuing only one of them can leave significant recovery on the table.
Those two claims, wrongful death and survival action, serve different purposes, compensate different losses, and direct money to different places. Understanding how they work together is the first step toward protecting your family’s full recovery. At Lindquist & Kornfeld, we’ve been helping Washington families navigate injury and loss claims since 1985, and Robert Kornfeld’s own experience with serious injury gives our team a firsthand understanding of what this process feels like for the people going through it.
Two Claims, Two Purposes
Washington wrongful death and survival action claims are creatures of statute, meaning courts are bound strictly by the language of the relevant statutes and who qualifies under each one. They don’t exist under common law; they exist because the legislature created them, and that matters when deciding who can file, what can be recovered, and where the money goes.
Wrongful Death (RCW 4.20.010):
These damages compensate the surviving family for their own losses caused by the death: lost financial support, lost companionship, care, guidance, and funeral and burial expenses. Wrongful death proceeds bypass the probate estate entirely and go directly to statutory beneficiaries. Creditors of the deceased can’t reach that money before it reaches the family.
Survival Action (RCW 4.20.046 and RCW 4.20.060):
This claim preserves what the deceased person could have brought had they lived: pre-death medical bills, wages lost between the injury and the death, and non-economic damages like pain and suffering. Washington has two survival statutes. A general one (RCW 4.20.046) and a special one (RCW 4.20.060). How proceeds are distributed depends on which applies. Getting that right matters for how much actually reaches your family.
Who Can File & Who Gets Paid
Both claims are filed by the Personal Representative (PR) of the decedent’s estate, not by individual family members acting on their own. The PR is a court-appointed role, and for Kirkland families, that appointment happens through probate at King County Superior Court before any claim can be filed or settlement signed.
Wrongful death beneficiaries are arranged in tiers under RCW 4.20.020:
- First tier: The surviving spouse or state-registered domestic partner and children, including stepchildren
- Second tier: Parents and siblings, but only if no first-tier beneficiaries exist
A meaningful change happened in 2019. Under prior law, second-tier beneficiaries had to prove financial dependence on the person who died. The 2019 amendment (SSB 5163, effective July 28, 2019) eliminated that requirement. Parents and siblings who weren’t financially dependent on the decedent can now qualify, which broadens who may recover in cases where no spouse or children survive.
What Each Claim Can Recover
Wrongful Death Damages:
These cover the family’s future losses: the financial support the deceased would have provided over a lifetime, loss of companionship and consortium, household services the deceased would have contributed, and funeral and burial costs. The measure is what the surviving family lost going forward from the date of death.
Survival Action Damages:
These cover what the deceased experienced and lost before death: pre-death medical expenses, wages lost during a hospital stay or recovery period, and non-economic damages including pain, suffering, anxiety, and humiliation. Non-economic survival damages require evidence of conscious suffering, though. In sudden-death cases where the person died immediately or was unconscious throughout, there may be little or no recovery on that portion of the claim. A detailed medical record review is often necessary to assess this accurately.
The survival statute distinction also affects where money ends up. General survival action proceeds under RCW 4.20.046 pass through the probate estate, which means valid creditor claims (including Medicare or Medicaid subrogation liens) can reduce what reaches beneficiaries. Proceeds under the special survival statute (RCW 4.20.060) go directly to statutory beneficiaries, more like wrongful death proceeds. Getting the allocation strategy right between these two claims is one of the practical reasons having our attorneys involved from the start can make a real difference.
Why Most Families Should Pursue Both
In Washington, a single lawsuit can and typically does plead both claims together. The personal representative files one action and allocates damages between the wrongful death count and the survival action count within that filing. There’s no procedural barrier to pursuing both at once, and doing so ensures the full picture of what was taken is addressed: the family’s future losses and the deceased’s own pre-death losses alike.
There’s also a practical reason to think carefully about how damages are allocated between the two claims. Wrongful death money flows directly to beneficiaries and can’t be reached by the decedent’s creditors. Survival action money that enters the estate can be. Structuring the allocation thoughtfully protects more of the recovery for the family rather than the estate’s creditors.
The Probate Step Kirkland Families Shouldn’t Skip
Most wrongful death and survival actions in Washington must be filed within three years of the date of death under RCW 4.16.080(2). That sounds like a long time, but because opening probate and appointing a Personal Representative is a prerequisite to filing either claim, the practical clock starts immediately.
For Kirkland residents, probate is filed with King County Superior Court through its Ex Parte and Probate Department. Many straightforward petitions can be presented ex parte. No formal hearing is required if the documents are in order. Once the clerk reviews the filing, the court issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, which give the PR legal authority to act on behalf of the estate: hiring an attorney, requesting records, and eventually filing the lawsuit. King County Superior Court handles Kirkland-area probate petitions at two locations: the King County Courthouse in Seattle and the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Don’t wait on the probate step even if a lawsuit feels far off. Evidence disappears quickly after a death. Surveillance footage is typically overwritten within days to weeks. Vehicle data recorders may be lost if a car is sold, crushed, or repaired before it can be inspected. Medical records become harder to obtain and authenticate over time. The PR’s authority to request records and preserve evidence doesn’t exist until the court issues those letters, so every week of delay narrows what’s available to build the claim.
Protecting Your Family’s Full Recovery
We know that meeting with an attorney is the last thing most families want to think about right now. That’s why we offer complimentary consultations and can come to you (whether that’s at home or at the hospital). If you’re trying to understand your options after losing someone in the Kirkland area, call us at (425) 657-5255.