Losing a family member to someone else's negligence is a loss no claim can undo, and pursuing a legal case is rarely the first thing on a grieving family's mind. But South Carolina law gives families the right to hold responsible parties accountable and to recover for the profound loss they have suffered.
A South Carolina wrongful death lawyer can help your family get compensation for your loss, and it all starts with building a strong claim.
The Arndt Law Firm represents grieving families across South Carolina, and this page explains how these claims work, with the understanding that there is no rush to decide and that the information is here when you are ready.
When a person dies because of another's negligence in South Carolina, the law provides two distinct claims, and understanding the difference helps a family see the full scope of what the law allows.
The wrongful death claim, codified at South Carolina Code sections 15-51-10 to 15-51-60, addresses the harm the death causes to the surviving family. It compensates for the losses the family suffers from the absence of their loved one, including the loss of the person's care, companionship, guidance, and the financial support they provided. This claim belongs to the beneficiaries, the family members the law recognizes, and it is brought on their behalf.
The survival action, under section 15-5-90, is different in nature. It is the claim the deceased person would have had if they had survived, which survives their death and passes to the estate.
It compensates for what the person experienced between the injury and death, including the conscious pain and suffering they endured, the medical expenses incurred in that period, and other losses the person sustained before passing. If a person survived for a time after the injury, conscious and suffering, the survival action addresses that suffering, which the wrongful death claim does not.
Bringing both claims together captures the full scope of the loss. The wrongful death claim addresses what the family lost in losing the person, and the survival action addresses what the person endured before death, and together they account for both dimensions of harm that a negligent death causes.
Understanding that the law provides for both is part of seeing the complete picture of what a family and an estate may recover, and which claims apply depends on the circumstances of the death, including whether the person survived for a period before passing.
South Carolina law specifies who may bring a wrongful death claim and who benefits from it, and the structure reflects the relationships closest to the person who died.
The claim is brought by the executor or administrator of the estate, the person appointed to represent the estate, rather than directly by the family members, under section 15-51-20. The executor or administrator brings the claim on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries, who are the ones the recovery is meant to benefit.
The beneficiaries are defined in a priority order that follows the closeness of family relationships. The spouse and children of the person who died come first, and the recovery is for their benefit. If there is no spouse or child, the person's parents are the beneficiaries.
If there is no spouse, child, or parent, the beneficiaries are the heirs of the person who died. This order means the wrongful death recovery is directed to the family members the law recognizes as most affected by the loss, in the order of their relationship.
This structure matters to a family because it determines both who brings the claim and who benefits from it. The need to have an executor or administrator appointed is a procedural step, and identifying the beneficiaries and their interests is part of the claim.
For a grieving family, these are not details to navigate alone, and understanding the structure, who files, who benefits, and in what order, is part of what guidance through a wrongful death claim provides. The law's framework is designed to direct the recovery to those closest to the person who died, and a claim works within that framework to serve the family's interests.
A wrongful death claim accounts for the many dimensions of a family's loss, both the financial and the deeply personal. The financial losses include the income and support the person would have provided, the value of the services they contributed to the family, and the medical and funeral expenses arising from the death.
For a family that depended on the person's income, the loss of that support over the years it would have continued can be a substantial part of the claim, requiring a projection of what the person would have provided.
The value of the services a person contributed to a household, from the care of children to the work of maintaining a home, is also a real economic loss that the family feels and that the claim accounts for, even though it was never paid as wages.
The personal losses, though they cannot be measured in the same way, are at the heart of a wrongful death claim. The law recognizes the loss of the person's companionship, care, guidance, and the relationship the family shared with them, and these losses are compensable even though no amount can replace the person.
The grief and the loss of the person's presence in the family's life are real harms that the law accounts for, and they are often the most significant part of the loss the family feels.
A spouse who has lost a partner, a child who has lost a parent, or a parent who has lost a child has suffered a loss that reaches into every part of daily life, and the law's recognition of these losses, while it cannot undo them, allows the claim to account for the human dimension of the harm rather than only its financial side.
The survival action adds the recovery for what the person endured before death, including the conscious pain and suffering they experienced and the medical expenses incurred between the injury and passing. Where the person's death was caused by reckless conduct, punitive damages may also be available, reflecting the law's condemnation of conduct that goes beyond ordinary negligence.
Together, the wrongful death claim and the survival action seek to account for the full scope of the harm, the family's loss, and the person's suffering that a negligent death causes. The same principles of liability that govern any South Carolina personal injury claim.
If a government entity is responsible, a state agency, a county, a municipality, a public hospital, or a school district, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act applies. Under South Carolina Code section 15-78-110, the claim is barred after two years, unless a verified claim is filed with the agency within one year of the loss, in which case the period is three years.
Recovery is capped by Section 15-78-120 at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence, $1,200,000 for claims involving a licensed physician or dentist. Punitive damages are not available against a government entity.
South Carolina's modified comparative negligence rule applies to wrongful death and survival claims as it does to any injury claim, allowing recovery as long as the person who died was 50 percent or less at fault, reducing the recovery by their percentage, and barring it at 51 percent or more, under Nelson v. Concrete Supply Company (1991).
Establishing the responsible party's fault (and countering any effort to assign fault to the person who died) is part of a wrongful death claim.
The responsible party's insurer may seek to attribute fault to the person who died, in an effort to reduce or eliminate the recovery under the comparative fault rule, just as in any injury case.
Because the person who died cannot give their own account, establishing how the death occurred depends on the other available evidence, the physical evidence, the witness accounts, any official report, and the reconstruction of what happened. Developing this evidence to establish the responsible party's fault is central to a wrongful death claim, particularly because the person most able to describe the event is gone.
The absence of the person's own account makes the objective evidence all the more important, and it places a premium on a careful investigation that establishes what happened through the physical facts, the witnesses, and the records, rather than allowing the responsible party's version to stand unchallenged.
The need to establish the facts through the available evidence, while a family is grieving, is one of the reasons that guidance through a wrongful death claim matters.
The investigation that establishes the responsible party's fault, the identification of every responsible party and source of coverage, and the documentation of the family's loss are the work of the claim, carried out so that the family does not have to navigate it alone.
The deadline to bring these claims is generally three years, but the evidence that establishes what happened is most available soon after the death, which is one reason the question of a claim arises even in the midst of grief.
A question that often arises for families is how a wrongful death recovery is divided, and understanding the framework can provide some clarity at a difficult time.
The wrongful death recovery belongs to the statutory beneficiaries, the family members the law recognizes in their order of priority, rather than to the estate generally, which means it passes to the family directly rather than through the ordinary process for the deceased person's other assets.
This distinction is important because it directs the wrongful death recovery to the spouse, children, parents, or heirs the law identifies, according to their relationship to the person who died.
When there are multiple beneficiaries, such as a surviving spouse and children, the recovery is shared among them, and South Carolina law provides for how that sharing is determined. The division reflects the beneficiaries' relationships, and the court may have a role in approving or determining the allocation, particularly to protect the interests of minor children.
This oversight exists to ensure that the recovery is fairly distributed among those the law intends to benefit and that the interests of children and other beneficiaries are protected.
The survival action's recovery is treated differently because that claim belongs to the estate rather than to the beneficiaries directly. The recovery from the survival action, compensating for what the person endured before death, becomes part of the estate and is distributed according to the person's will or the laws of intestacy, like the person's other assets.
These are matters that a South Carolina wrongful death lawyer can address, so that a family does not have to navigate the distinctions and the procedural steps on their own while they are grieving.
For a grieving family, the legal process can feel daunting at a time when energy and attention are already stretched thin, and understanding the general shape of it can ease some of that uncertainty.
A wrongful death case typically begins with an investigation into how the death occurred and who was responsible, gathering the evidence that establishes fault, the official reports, the witness accounts, and the physical evidence, much of which is best secured while it is fresh. This investigative work is carried out so that the family does not have to gather the evidence or confront the responsible party themselves.
A practical early step is the appointment of an executor or administrator of the estate, the person who will formally bring the claim, since the wrongful death claim is brought by that representative on behalf of the beneficiaries.
If an estate has not been opened, this appointment is part of getting a claim underway, and it is a step that guidance through the process addresses rather than leaving to the family to manage alone. Identifying the beneficiaries and their interests is part of the same early work.
As the claim develops, the responsible party and their insurer are presented with the evidence of fault and the documentation of the family's loss and the person's pre-death suffering.
Many wrongful death claims are resolved through negotiation when the evidence is strong, sparing the family a prolonged process, though a claim prepared thoroughly from the start is in the best position if a fair resolution cannot be reached and litigation becomes necessary.
Throughout, the pace can reflect the family's needs, and the decision to pursue a claim, and how to proceed, remains the family's own. There is no single right timeline, and the process is meant to serve the family rather than add to their burden.
Wrongful death claims arise from the full range of fatal incidents that occur across South Carolina.
Fatal motor vehicle crashes are among the most common sources, including the car, truck, and motorcycle crashes that take lives on the state's roads and highways. The analysis of fault and coverage in these cases follows the same principles as any South Carolina car accident claim.
A death caused by a drunk driver, a commercial truck, or another serious crash gives rise to the wrongful death and survival claims that allow the family and the estate to recover. The same crashes that cause catastrophic injuries can prove fatal, and where a death results, the wrongful death and survival claims replace the injury claim the person would otherwise have brought, with the wrongful death claim serving the family and the survival action serving the estate.
Beyond the roads, wrongful death claims arise from fatal incidents on dangerous property, from defective products, from medical negligence, and from the many other ways that another's failure to exercise reasonable care can prove fatal.
Whatever the cause, the structure is the same: the wrongful death claim for the family's loss and the survival action for what the person endured, brought by the executor or administrator on behalf of the beneficiaries.
When a fatal incident occurs anywhere in South Carolina, the most critically injured are taken to the nearest trauma center, and the records of that final care often document the person's condition and any period of survival before death.
Wherever a death occurs in South Carolina, the same law applies, and the wrongful death and survival claims provide the means by which a family seeks accountability and recovery. The work of the claim is carried out with an understanding of what the family is going through, and at the family's pace.
| Claim | Whose loss it addresses | Examples of what it covers |
| Wrongful death (§§ 15-51-10 to 60) | The surviving family members | Lost support, companionship, care, guidance, funeral costs |
| Survival action (§ 15-5-90) | The estate (the person's own claim) | Pre-death pain and suffering, medical costs before death |
| Brought by | Executor or administrator | On behalf of the statutory beneficiaries |
| Beneficiary order | Spouse and children, then parents, then heirs | Directs the recovery to those closest to the person |
A wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family for their loss, while a survival action compensates the estate for what the person experienced, including pain and suffering, between the injury and death.
The executor or administrator of the estate brings the claim on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries, who are the spouse and children first, then the parents, then the heirs.
The financial losses such as lost support and funeral costs, and the personal losses such as the loss of companionship, care, and guidance, along with the survival action's recovery for pre-death suffering.
Three years from the date of death under South Carolina Code section 15-3-530. A shorter deadline may apply if a government entity is responsible. The survival action also has a three-year deadline, but it runs from the date of the injury.
Recovery is allowed as long as the person who died was 50 percent or less at fault, reduced by their percentage, and barred at 51 percent or more.
At the Arndt Law Firm, we handle every South Carolina wrongful death case by establishing the responsible party's fault through the evidence, bringing both the wrongful death claim for the family and the survival action for what the person endured, identifying every responsible party and source of coverage, and accounting for the full scope of the loss.
Attorney Arndt previously defended insurers, so we understand how these claims are evaluated and contested and carry out the work so that a grieving family does not have to navigate it alone, wherever in the state the death occurred. We serve communities across the state, so you can bring your Charleston wrongful death claim or your Columbia wrongful death claim.
If you have lost a loved one to another's negligence anywhere in South Carolina, there is no rush to decide, and a conversation carries no obligation. Contact us as soon as possible or call (843) 273-8149. The consultation is free, and we handle wrongful death cases on a contingency basis, with no fees unless there is a recovery.
Last reviewed: August 2026
This page was reviewed by Jonathan S. Arndt, licensed in South Carolina since 2018.
