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We are sorry for your loss. Take this at whatever pace feels right.
By Elliot Singer, Esq. · Published
Question 1
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Each state has its own rules about who can bring the claim, deadlines, and limits.
Informational estimate only. It is not legal advice, a valuation, or a promise of recovery. Actual results depend on evidence, fault, and available insurance.
If you are here, someone you love has died because of what someone else did or failed to do. Nothing on this page puts a value on that person. A wrongful death claim is the law's way of measuring what a family lost, and it is built from a few parts that can be explained plainly.
The calculator shows how those parts fit together, using your answers. It is an illustration, not a valuation, and it is not a prediction of what any insurer or court would do. Nothing you enter is sent to anyone unless you choose to send it.
The 1.5x to 3x band is an illustration of a common estimating method, not a rule any insurer or court follows. Lost benefits and household services are part of a real claim but are not estimated here.
Hypothetical facts, round numbers, no real family. A 40-year-old in Colorado who earned $60,000 a year is killed in a crash the other driver caused. They leave a spouse and two children. Medical bills before death were $20,000, and the funeral and burial cost $15,000.
| Lost income: $60,000 × 27 years (to age 67) | $1,620,000 |
| Plus medical ($20,000) and funeral ($15,000) | $1,655,000 |
| Grief and companionship: 1.5x to 3x | $2,482,500 to $4,965,000 |
| Held to Colorado's $2,125,000 cap | $2,125,000 |
| Illustrative total | $3,780,000 |
Now change one fact: the other driver carried a $250,000 policy and nothing else has been found. The calculator's range becomes $212,500 to $250,000. The loss did not change; the money available to pay for it did. That is why finding every policy, including the family's own underinsured motorist coverage, matters so much.
The same facts in Kansas would hold the noneconomic part to $250,000. In Arizona or California, there is no cap on it.
Illustration only. It is not a Conduit Law result and not a prediction of what any claim would settle for.
In the first year after the death, C.R.S. § 13-21-201(1)(a) allows the claim to be brought by the surviving spouse; by the spouse together with the heirs, or by the heirs alone, upon the spouse's written election; or, if there is no spouse, by the heirs or by a designated beneficiary. In the second year, C.R.S. § 13-21-201(1)(b) opens the claim to the spouse, the heirs, the spouse and heirs together, or a designated beneficiary together with the heirs.
When the person who died was unmarried and had no children and no designated beneficiary, the father or mother can bring the claim, and both parents may join. Siblings can bring it only when there is no spouse, no heirs, and no designated beneficiary, and, if the person was unmarried without children, no mother and no father.
Colorado permits only one civil action for the death of any one person (C.R.S. § 13-21-203(1)(a)). If a spouse settles in the first year without filing suit, that settlement alone can foreclose a later claim by the children or other heirs, so families usually benefit from sorting out these roles together, early.
The wrongful death eligibility assessment walks through who can file, step by step.
For wrongful death claims that accrue on or after Jan. 1, 2025, and actions filed during 2025, Colorado limits noneconomic damages to $2,125,000 under C.R.S. § 13-21-203 (HB24-1472). Because only one action may be brought for any one person, the limit applies to the family's combined claim, not to each family member separately. Economic losses are not capped. The cap does not apply where the death was caused by murder or manslaughter, established by a criminal conviction or a civil court finding; vehicular homicide is a separate offense and does not by itself qualify.
A wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family members for their own losses. A survival action, by contrast, continues a claim the person who died already had at the time of death, and it is brought or continued by the personal representative of the estate. In Colorado, survival damages are limited to loss of earnings and expenses sustained or incurred before death.
A recovery is generally apportioned among the eligible family members based on each person's own loss rather than as an automatic equal split, and in many cases a court must approve the distribution before funds are released. Our guide to how wrongful death settlements are distributed in Colorado explains more.
Conduit does not handle claims that arise from medical care. In Colorado, those claims follow the Health Care Availability Act, with different damages limits, so the calculator does not estimate them.
When a death happens at work, workers' compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against the employer, and Conduit does not handle workers' compensation claims. A separate claim may exist against someone other than the employer, such as an equipment manufacturer or a property owner, depending on the facts.
There is no reliable published average. Values vary widely with the income of the person who died, the number of people who depended on them, how clear fault is, and how much insurance is available. An average would hide all of that, which is why the calculator works from your own answers instead.
It usually starts with economic losses: the income and support the person would have provided, benefits and household services, medical bills before death, and funeral and burial costs. Then come noneconomic losses such as grief and loss of companionship. The total is reduced for any share of fault, limited by any cap, and in practice often limited by the insurance available.
In a real claim, forensic economists project what the person would have earned over their expected working life, including raises and benefits, and reduce it to present value. This calculator does something simpler and says so: yearly income times the years left until 67, with no raises, no discount, and nothing subtracted for personal spending.
In the first year after the death, the surviving spouse; the spouse and heirs together, or the heirs alone, upon the spouse's written election; or, with no spouse, the heirs or a designated beneficiary. In the second year, the spouse, the heirs, both together, or a designated beneficiary together with the heirs. Parents can bring the claim when the person was unmarried without children or a designated beneficiary.
Yes, on noneconomic damages. Colorado limits them to $2,125,000 under C.R.S. § 13-21-203 (HB24-1472) for claims that accrue on or after Jan. 1, 2025, and any action filed during 2025. The limit applies to the family's combined claim. Economic losses such as lost support, funeral costs, and medical bills are not capped.
Generally 2 years from the date of death. A narrow exception extends it to four years where the death resulted from vehicular homicide and the driver also left the scene. Claims against government entities also require written notice within 182 days.
A wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family members for their own losses. A survival action continues a claim the person who died already had, and it is brought by the personal representative of the estate. In Colorado, survival damages are limited to loss of earnings and expenses sustained or incurred before death.
It is generally apportioned among the eligible family members based on each person's own loss rather than as an automatic equal split, and in many cases a court has to approve the distribution before funds are released. How that works in a given case depends on the facts.
In Colorado and Kansas, a recovery is reduced by the share of fault assigned to the person who died, and if that share is 50% or more, the family recovers nothing. Arizona and California reduce a recovery by the share of fault but do not bar it. Fault is often disputed and decided on evidence the family has not seen yet.
There can be. Grief and the loss of companionship are recoverable losses whether or not the person earned an income. This calculator does not put a number on them in that situation, because a formula tied to income cannot measure that kind of loss.
That is your decision. Colorado allows only one wrongful death action for each person who died, and a settlement by one family member can affect the others, so many families find it helps to have someone sort out who can file and what coverage exists before anything is signed. A first conversation costs nothing.
There is no rush on this page and no cost for a first conversation. If it would help to have someone look at who can file, the deadline, and what coverage exists, we are here.
No Fee Unless We Win. Costs or adverse fees may still apply. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.