The Surrogate’s Court in New York distributes wrongful death settlement amounts between claims for wrongfulness of death and the victim’s endured suffering before death. Two major legal claims exist under New York’s wrongful death law represented by wrongful death and pain and suffering. The distribution of damages through Surrogate’s Court depends most heavily on whether the deceased experienced conscious agony before their death. The Surrogate’s Court divides damages by giving 90% to wrongful death and 10% to pain and suffering. The wrongful death claim focuses on distributors’ financial loss and parental support yet pain and suffering damages stem from the actual pain experienced by the deceased before their passing.

Only Distributes of the Estate will Receive a Distribution of Damages

Only those who have been approved to inherit from the estate will receive compensation from the damages award the court distributes compensation to distributes of the deceased individual when they died intestate according to state law rules of inheritance. Parties who are not distributes remain completely unprotected from loss so they do not qualify for any amount of the award despite showing a demonstration of damages.

Distribution of Damages Allocated to Wrongful Death

To determine wrongful death proceeds distribution the Kaiser formula helps calculate financial compensation for distributes according to their pecuniary loss calculation. Most judicial bodies apply the Kaiser formula as their general approach to distribute wrongful death awards. Matter of Kaiser, 198 Misc. 582 (Kings County 1950). The court starts by determining how long the deceased person was expected to live and how many years the surviving minor children need to reach the age of 21 years old under Kaiser. The Kaiser decision establishes a restricted timeframe for minor children’s entitlement to financial dependence benefits which lasts until they reach age 21 years. Kaiser has established that the surviving spouse should anticipate financial dependency on their deceased partner up to the end of their life expectancy (based on statistics from life expectancy tables).

Under Kaiser rules the surviving spouse and children aged 21 or younger receive equal portions from the wrongful death claim money. The marital and child beneficiary payout depends on how many years they will depend financially upon the deceased person. Each dependent party starts with their own recognized dependency period as the basis for sharing wrongful death benefits. Matter of Acquafredda, 189 A.D.2d 504, 506. The time a surviving spouse can rely on support is limited to the shorter amount of time measured between where recognized mortality statistics show if the spouse survives longer. Every child receives benefits in the years that pass between the time when the decedent dies and the day when they turn 21.

Life expectancy calculations show the spouse of the deceased Kaiser will need support for 25.27 years and relies on the decedent’s 25.27 years of expectations. The decedent had one 1-year-old child who’s remaining 20 years until age 21 represents the child’s period of dependency. Both surviving wife and child require support for a combined 45.27 years when their numbers 20 and 25.27 are added together. The surviving spouse received 55.8% of the settlement funds because 25.27 years out of 45.27 made up the dependent period. The child received 44.2% because 20 years out of 45.27 made up his dependent period. According to the Kaiser formula the younger child will take a larger share from the settlement funds than an older recipient. The court decides distribution amounts based on everyone born before the victim’s death and the years remaining until they turn 85 plus the victim’s age at the time of death.