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What Is the Statute of Limitations for a Wrongful Death Claim After a Fatal Vehicle Accident in Georgia and Who Has Standing to File?

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The family’s wrongful death lawsuit is due two years from the date of death (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33). A pending criminal case does not extend it; a minor child who holds the claim gets two years from turning 18. Standing goes to the spouse, then the children, then the parents, then the estate’s administrator. The estate’s claim for the person’s injuries runs from the crash, with its own tolling rule.

Two claims, two clocks

Family's wrongful death claim Estate's claim
Who brings it Spouse, children, parents, or administrator, in statutory order The estate's personal representative (§ 9-2-41)
What it recovers The full value of the life What the person could have recovered had they lived, plus funeral and medical expenses (§ 51-4-5(b))
Clock starts Date of death Date of the crash injury, for the person's own claim
Time without an estate representative Not addressed: § 9-3-92 speaks to the estate Up to five years between death and appointment "shall not be counted against his estate" (§ 9-3-92)
Crime-victim tolling (§ 9-3-99) Does not help the family (Hicks, 2022) Not decided in Hicks

The two claims do not merge. Section 9-2-41 provides that an action “for injury to the person” does not abate with death and “shall survive to the personal representative of the deceased plaintiff”, while the family’s claim arises under the Wrongful Death Act. What each claim recovers is explained in who can file a Georgia wrongful death claim and what damages apply.

When the person dies days or months after the crash

For example, imagine a crash on March 1 and a death on May 15. The family’s two years run from May 15. The estate’s claim for the person’s own injuries started on March 1, because it is the injured person’s claim carried forward. If no personal representative is appointed for a time, § 9-3-92 keeps up to five years of that gap from counting against the estate, and “[a]t the expiration of the five years the limitation shall commence, even if the cause of action accrued after the person’s death.”

Appointing a personal representative takes time in probate court, which is one reason the estate’s date can be closer than the family’s.

A criminal case does not pause the family’s deadline

Georgia’s crime-victim statute tolls a tort claim “that may be brought by the victim of an alleged crime” until the prosecution “has become final or otherwise terminated”, for up to six years (§ 9-3-99). In Hicks v. Universal Health Services (2022), parents sued more than two years after their adult children were killed and argued that the statute had paused their wrongful death deadline during the criminal case. The Court of Appeals read “victim” in its ordinary sense: “the crime at issue here is murder, and the parents have not been murdered.” Their wrongful death claims were untimely, and the court said that any change “is a remedy that must be afforded by the legislature.” The court reached the same result for a surviving husband and daughter in Sachy v. Allen (2022).

The rule for families: the two-year date from the death applies even while a vehicular homicide or DUI prosecution is pending and even if the criminal case will take longer. Evidence produced in the criminal case can still be used in the civil case after it is filed.

Who has standing, and in what order

  1. Surviving spouse. Files for the spouse and the children, and shares the recovery with them; the spouse receives no less than one-third (§ 51-4-2(a), (d)), may settle without the children’s agreement, and must account to them for the statutory division (§ 51-4-2(c)).
  2. Children. If there is no spouse, the child or children, “either minor or sui juris”, file (§ 51-4-2(a)). If minor children file and there is no spouse, the guardian must obtain court approval of any settlement and qualify as conservator if necessary to receive it (§ 51-4-2(b)(3)).
  3. Parents. If the person left no spouse or child, the parents hold the claim under § 51-4-4 and § 19-7-1(c), jointly or individually depending on whether they live together.
  4. Administrator or executor. Only “[w]hen there is no person entitled to bring an action” under those statutes does the estate’s representative file, holding the recovery “for the benefit of the next of kin” (§ 51-4-5(a)).

If the spouse dies while the case is pending, the claim passes to the children; if a child-plaintiff dies, it passes to the surviving children (§ 51-4-2(b)(1), (2)).

A child as the only claimant

When the only person entitled to file is a minor child, the general tolling statute for minors, § 9-3-90(b), gives a minor the same time after turning 18 “to bring an action as is prescribed for other persons”. The Court of Appeals has applied that rule to wrongful death claims. In DeKalb Medical Center v. Hawkins (2007), an unmarried mother died when her son was two days old, and the court held that the minors’ tolling provision applies to a wrongful death action brought by a minor for the death of a parent when the claim is not based on medical malpractice. In Somani v. Cannon (2022), a crash killed a mother, her husband, and their daughter; her surviving son, born in 2005, held the claim, and the court held that a suit filed on a minor’s behalf does not end the tolling. Both decisions applied the statute’s wording before 2015, when the minors’ rule moved into subsection (b); medical malpractice claims follow their own statute. The general minors’ rules are in how Georgia handles accident claims where the injured victim is a minor.

Deadlines that arrive sooner

If a city, county, or state vehicle or road was involved, written notice to that government is due before either lawsuit, within six months (city) or 12 months (county, state) of its own starting event; see Georgia ante litem notice requirements and what happens if the deadline is missed.

Sources

This page describes Georgia law as of October 2026 for general information. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Related posts:

  1. Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Georgia After a Fatal Vehicle Accident and What Measure of Damages Applies?
  2. What Is the Statute of Limitations for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit After a Car Accident in Georgia and When Does the Clock Start?
  3. How Does Georgia Law Handle Accident Claims Where the Injured Victim Is a Minor and How Is the Statute of Limitations Tolled?
  4. How Does Georgia’s Dram Shop Statute Create Liability for Licensed Alcohol Sellers When a Customer Then Causes a Vehicle Accident?
  5. What Is the Georgia Apportionment of Fault Statute Under O.C.G.A. 51-12-33 and How Does It Allocate Fault Among Multiple Defendants in a Multi-Vehicle Accident?
  6. What Is a Bad Faith Insurance Claim in Georgia and What Remedies Are Available When an Insurer Unreasonably Refuses to Settle a Valid Accident Claim?
  7. What Is Negligence Per Se in Georgia and Which Traffic Statute Violations Automatically Establish It in an Accident Case?
  8. How Does Georgia’s Direct Action Statute Allow a Claimant to Sue a Trucking Company’s Insurer Directly Rather Than Only the Insured?