Reviewed by Larry “Jimmy” Peters, attorney — licensed in Tennessee (BPR #37889), Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas and Georgia. Last reviewed: July 2026.
Quick answer: In Tennessee a wrongful death claim is the person’s own cause of action, which does not end at death but passes to certain family members in the order set by Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106 — surviving spouse first, then children or next of kin, then the personal representative. Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-113 allows two categories of damages: what the person suffered before death, and the loss to the family caused by the death. The deadline is generally one year. Where a parent of a minor child dies, the non-economic damages cap rises to $1,000,000 under § 29-39-102.
Sources: Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security, TITAN county crash rankings (rev. February 2026); Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 28-3-104(a)(1)(A), 29-39-102.
What a Tennessee wrongful death claim actually is
Tennessee does not treat a wrongful death case the way most states do. In many states the family brings a new claim of their own for the loss they suffered. In Tennessee the claim belongs, in the first instance, to the person who died.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106 is titled “Injury resulting in death — Succession to cause of action — Beneficiaries,” and the operative idea is in the word succession. The right of action a person would have had if they had survived does not abate at death. It passes. Who it passes to is fixed by statute, in a specific order, and that order determines who has authority to hire a lawyer, to file suit, and to sign a settlement.
This structure has real consequences for a family. It means the claim can include what the person went through before death — the pain, the hospitalization, the medical charges — alongside what the death cost the survivors. It also means that the family cannot simply agree among themselves who will bring the case. The statute decides, and disputes about who holds the right have to be resolved before the case can move.
Wrongful death claims in Bartlett arise from motor vehicle collisions most often, but also from commercial truck crashes, pedestrian collisions, dangerous premises, and rail crossing incidents. The legal framework described here applies regardless of how the death occurred.
Who may bring the claim — the priority order in § 20-5-106
Section 20-5-106 sets out who succeeds to the cause of action, in order:
Stated more fully, the statute passes the right of action as follows:
- To the surviving spouse. The spouse holds the claim first.
- If there is no surviving spouse, to the children or next of kin.
- To the personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving spouse or next of kin. The personal representative brings the case; the recovery belongs to the beneficiaries.
- To the natural parents, or a parent, or next of kin, if at the time of death the person was in the custody of the natural parents and had not been legally surrendered or abandoned.
- Otherwise, to the legally adoptive parents or parent, or to the administrator for their use and benefit.
Two points come up repeatedly in practice. First, the person who holds the right is not necessarily the person doing the caregiving, the grieving or the arranging. An adult child may be handling everything while the legal right sits with a spouse. Second, the statute distinguishes between who brings the claim and who benefits from it. A personal representative who files suit is acting for the beneficiaries, not for themselves.
The statute also protects the recovery. Funds recovered in a wrongful death action are, in the statute’s words, “free from the claims of creditors.” That is a meaningful protection for families dealing with an estate that carries debt.
In short: In Tennessee the wrongful death claim is the decedent’s own cause of action passing by statute, not a new claim owned by whoever comes forward. Establishing who holds the right under § 20-5-106 is the first step, and it should be done before anything is filed or signed.
When a surviving spouse’s right is waived
Subsection (c) of § 20-5-106 addresses a situation that families sometimes face and rarely expect to see written into a statute: a spouse who left, years ago, and reappears when there is a claim.
Under that subsection, a surviving spouse’s right to institute and collect any recovery in a wrongful death action is waived if the children or next of kin establish that the surviving spouse either abandoned the deceased spouse, as described in Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-4-101(a)(13), or otherwise willfully withdrew for a period of two years. The statute adds that if the abandonment or withdrawal continued for two years, a rebuttable presumption of abandonment arises, which the surviving spouse may rebut with evidence.
Three practical observations. The children or next of kin carry the burden of establishing abandonment or willful withdrawal — it does not happen automatically because a couple lived apart. The two-year presumption shifts the work to the spouse once that period is shown. And because this is a factual dispute, it is proved with documents and testimony: separate addresses, absence from medical decisions, financial separation, the accounts of people who knew the household.
This is a difficult conversation to have with a family that is already grieving. It is also better to have it early than to discover the issue after a case has been filed by someone without the authority to file it.
What § 20-5-113 allows a family to recover
Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-113 is the damages statute for wrongful death, and it describes two distinct categories.
First, the decedent’s own losses. The statute allows recovery for the mental and physical suffering, loss of time, and necessary expenses resulting from the injuries — that is, what the person experienced between the injury and death. Where someone survived a collision on Stage Road (State Route 15 / U.S. 64) for several days in intensive care, that period is compensable. Where death was instantaneous, this category is smaller, and the case shifts almost entirely to the second.
Second, the loss to the beneficiaries. The statute allows the damages to the parties for whose use and benefit the right of action survives, resulting from the death. This is where the family’s loss is measured — the financial contribution the person made and would have made, and the loss of the relationship itself.
In practice the elements a family should expect to document include:
- Medical expenses from the injury through death, including ambulance, emergency care, surgery and intensive care.
- Funeral and burial expenses.
- The decedent’s conscious pain and suffering before death, where there was an interval.
- Lost earning capacity — the income and benefits the person would reasonably have provided over a working lifetime, typically established through employment records and economic analysis.
- The pecuniary value of the life, which in Tennessee includes not only earnings but the services, attention, care and guidance the person provided to the family.
- Loss of consortium for a spouse, and the corresponding loss to children.
Documenting the second category is quieter work than it sounds. It generally means gathering tax returns and employment records, but also understanding what the person actually did for the household — who they drove to appointments, what they repaired, which grandchild they picked up from school. Those facts are what convert an abstract loss into something a jury can measure.
The damages cap — when it rises, and when it does not apply
Economic damages in Tennessee are not capped. Non-economic damages are. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102 caps non-economic damages at $750,000, and raises the cap to $1,000,000 where the injury meets the statute’s definition of catastrophic.
One of the catastrophic categories is directly relevant here: the wrongful death of a parent leaving a surviving minor child. The others are spinal cord injury causing paraplegia or quadriplegia; amputation of two hands, two feet, or one of each; and third-degree burns over 40% or more of the body or to 40% or more of the face.
Two structural features of the cap matter to families. It is an aggregate — it applies to all non-economic damages arising from the death taken together, including derivative claims, rather than separately to each claimant. And the jury is not told about it; the court applies it after the verdict is returned.
The cap does not apply at all in four situations set out in subsection (h), and two of them arise regularly in fatal crash cases:
- The defendant acted with a specific intent to inflict serious physical injury.
- The defendant falsified, destroyed or concealed records containing material evidence with the purpose of avoiding liability — a real issue where a commercial carrier controls the driver logs and electronic data.
- The defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs to a degree that judgment was substantially impaired, and that caused the injury.
- The defendant’s act results in a felony conviction that caused the damages.
Where a death was caused by an impaired driver, or where the conduct produced a felony conviction, the cap analysis changes entirely. It is one of the reasons the criminal proceeding should be monitored even though it is a separate matter.
The one-year deadline
Tennessee gives one year to bring a personal injury action, Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A), and wrongful death claims are generally governed by that same one-year period. Most states allow two or three years. Tennessee allows one, and for a family the first of those twelve months is usually consumed by the funeral, the estate paperwork and the plain difficulty of functioning.
There is a two-year version, and it is narrower than it appears. Section 28-3-104(a)(2) extends the period to two years only when all three of the following are true: criminal charges are brought against a person alleged to have caused the injury; the criminal prosecution was commenced within one year by a law enforcement officer, a district attorney general, or a grand jury; and the civil action is brought against the party who was prosecuted. Subsection (a)(3) directs that the provision “shall be strictly construed.”
That third condition does the most damage in fatal crash cases. If an impaired driver is prosecuted but the driver was working for a company at the time, the extension may allow a late suit against the driver without clearly allowing one against the employer, who was never prosecuted — and the employer is often where the meaningful insurance coverage sits.
There can also be additional timing questions where a personal representative must be appointed before suit, or where a beneficiary is a minor. Those are reasons to start earlier, not reasons to assume more time exists. The safe practice is to treat the one-year date as firm and to have the case investigated well before it.
Comparative fault still applies
A wrongful death claim is subject to the same fault rules as any other Tennessee injury claim. Under McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992), codified at Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102(b), recovery is available only if the decedent’s share of fault was less than the defendant’s, and the recovery is reduced by that percentage. Where there is more than one defendant, the decedent’s share is compared against their combined fault. At 50% there is no recovery.
This is uncomfortable, because it means an insurer will argue about the conduct of someone who is not there to explain it. Speed, lane position, seat belt use, the route taken, whether a turn was signaled — all of it will be examined. The person who could answer those questions cannot.
That imbalance is precisely why the physical evidence matters so much in a death case. Crash data recorders, roadway measurements, commercial vehicle electronic logs, surveillance video from businesses along Summer Avenue (U.S. 70) or Germantown Parkway (State Route 177), and prompt scene documentation carry the argument that the decedent cannot make. It is also why a serious fatal crash file should have an investigator working within days rather than months.
A criminal case is not your civil case
Families frequently assume that if the driver is charged, the matter is being handled. The two proceedings are separate in nearly every way that matters to a family.
The criminal case is brought by the State against the defendant. Its purpose is punishment, and the standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. The family are witnesses, not parties. A prosecutor cannot represent the family’s financial interests, and a conviction does not produce compensation beyond whatever restitution a court may order, which is typically limited.
The civil wrongful death case is brought by the statutory beneficiary. Its purpose is compensation, and the standard of proof is a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not. That lower standard means a civil claim can succeed even where a criminal case ends in acquittal or is never charged at all.
The two do interact. A felony conviction that caused the damages removes the non-economic cap under § 29-39-102(h). A prosecution can support the narrow two-year extension in § 28-3-104(a)(2). And criminal discovery sometimes surfaces evidence the civil case needs. But the criminal case does not pause the civil deadline, and waiting for it to conclude is one of the more common ways a Tennessee family loses the civil claim entirely.
Insurance, and why coverage is often the practical limit
The uncomfortable arithmetic of fatal crash cases is that the value of a claim and the money available to pay it are two different things.
Tennessee requires only $25,000 per injured person, $50,000 per crash, and $25,000 in property damage for policies issued or renewed after December 31, 2022 — Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-102(12)(D) — or a single limit of at least $65,000. In a death case, $25,000 is not a meaningful figure. And Tennessee has one of the thinnest insurance pools in the country: the Insurance Research Council put the state’s uninsured driver rate at 21.3%, fifth highest in the country, against a national average of 15.4%.
So the coverage investigation is not an afterthought; it frequently determines the outcome. The sources worth identifying early include:
- The at-fault driver’s liability policy, and any umbrella or excess policy above it.
- The decedent’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1201 insurers must offer UM/UIM equal to the policy’s liability limits, and a household has less only if a named insured rejected the coverage or selected lower limits in writing. A rejection binds every insured under the policy and is treated as part of it whether or not it was physically attached. If a family is told there is no UM coverage, the signed form should be requested.
- UM/UIM on a resident relative’s policy, or on the vehicle the decedent occupied.
- A commercial policy where the at-fault driver was working, which is often an order of magnitude larger than a personal auto policy, and which may make the employer responsible as well.
- Other responsible parties — a vehicle owner, a maintenance contractor, a property owner, a road or rail authority depending on where and how the collision occurred.
Finding coverage takes time and requires asking parties who have no obligation to volunteer it. This is one more argument for beginning the work early in a one-year state.
Fatal crashes in Bartlett and Shelby County
Bartlett is a city of roughly 57,786 people — 11th largest city in Tennessee and the second largest in Shelby County — sitting at the geographic center of Shelby County. It has its own police department, so a fatal collision inside the city limits is generally investigated by the Bartlett Police Department rather than Memphis police. Crashes just outside the city line may be worked by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and those on Interstate 40 near the Sycamore View Road (Exit 12) and Whitten Road (Exit 14) interchanges by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. BPD Records can be reached at (901) 385-5500, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; a law firm requesting a report for a client needs the third-party request form and a copy of the client’s photo ID. Tennessee crash reports are also available through purchasetncrash.gov.
In December 2024 a single-vehicle crash into a tree on Billy Maher Road near Old Brownsville Road killed the driver. It is the only news-confirmed traffic fatality within the Bartlett city limits we have been able to verify in the 2023–2026 window. Bartlett is, by the available record, a comparatively safe place to drive. The county around it is not.
Bartlett residents drive county roads every day, and a Bartlett family’s case is frequently a Memphis-roadway case. Suit would ordinarily be filed in Shelby County Circuit Court, 140 Adams Avenue, Memphis. Some cases belong in federal court — the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division, which sits at Memphis and covers Shelby County, 28 U.S.C. § 123(c)(2) — which is common where a trucking company or an out-of-state corporate defendant is involved.
Severe trauma from a Bartlett collision is generally transported to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center at Regional One Health, 877 Jefferson Avenue in Memphis, the only Level I trauma center within a 150-mile radius. Saint Francis Hospital–Bartlett, 2986 Kate Bond Road — a 196-bed hospital with a 24-hour emergency room — the only full-service hospital inside Bartlett — is not a designated trauma center, so records in a fatal case often exist in more than one system, along with emergency medical services run sheets and, where an autopsy was performed, the medical examiner’s file.
Practical first steps for a family
There is no urgency to make decisions in the first days. There is urgency about a small number of things that disappear.
- Ask that the vehicle be preserved. Tell the insurer and the tow yard in writing not to release, repair or salvage it. Crash data recorders and physical evidence are often the strongest proof available, and they are routinely destroyed within weeks.
- Request the crash report from the investigating agency once it is complete, and read the narrative and diagram carefully.
- Write down what you know — who called, what officers said, which hospital, what times. Memory of the first week fades quickly and this record is often useful later.
- Keep every bill and statement, including ambulance, hospital, physician groups, funeral home and cemetery.
- Identify who holds the claim under § 20-5-106 before anyone signs anything or hires anyone.
- Locate the auto policies in the household, including UM/UIM coverage and any umbrella policy.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurer, and do not sign a release or an authorization it sends you.
- Ask before accepting an early payment. A quick offer in a death case is usually made before anyone knows what the claim involves, and a release cannot be undone.
- Note the one-year date from the date of death and understand that the criminal case does not pause it.
- Ask questions when you are ready. A consultation costs nothing and does not obligate a family to do anything.
| Who may bring the claim | By statutory succession under Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106: surviving spouse; then children or next of kin; then the personal representative for their benefit; then natural parents or next of kin in the circumstances the statute describes; otherwise adoptive parents or their administrator. |
|---|---|
| Spousal waiver | A surviving spouse’s right is waived if the children or next of kin establish abandonment as described in § 36-4-101(a)(13) or willful withdrawal for two years — § 20-5-106(c). After two years a rebuttable presumption of abandonment arises. |
| Protection of the recovery | Funds recovered in a wrongful death action are free from the claims of creditors — Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106. |
| Recoverable damages | Two categories under Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-113: the decedent’s mental and physical suffering, loss of time and necessary expenses resulting from the injuries; and the damages to the beneficiaries resulting from the death. |
| Deadline | Generally one year — Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A). The two-year criminal-charge extension in § 28-3-104(a)(2) requires all three conditions and is “strictly construed.” |
| Non-economic damages cap | $750,000, rising to $1,000,000 for catastrophic injury — which includes the wrongful death of a parent leaving a surviving minor child — Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102. Aggregate; the jury is not told. |
| When the cap does not apply | Four situations in § 29-39-102(h): specific intent to injure; falsified, destroyed or concealed records; a defendant under the influence to the degree that judgment was substantially impaired, causing the injury; or an act resulting in a felony conviction that caused the damages. |
| Fault rule | Modified comparative fault with a 50% bar — McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992); Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102(b). |
| UM/UIM coverage | Must be offered at the policy’s liability limits; a household has less only through a written rejection or written selection of lower limits — Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1201. |
| Investigating agency | Bartlett Police Department inside the city limits; Shelby County Sheriff’s Office in unincorporated areas; Tennessee Highway Patrol on the interstate. BPD Records (901) 385-5500. |
| State court venue | Shelby County Circuit Court, 140 Adams Avenue, Memphis. |
| Federal court venue | the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division, which sits at Memphis and covers Shelby County — 28 U.S.C. § 123(c)(2). |
| Our fee | Contingency — no attorney fee unless we recover for the family. The consultation is free. |
Frequently asked questions about Tennessee wrongful death claims
Who has the right to file a wrongful death case in Tennessee?
The right passes by statute under Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106, in order: the surviving spouse; if there is no surviving spouse, the children or next of kin; then the personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving spouse or next of kin; then the natural parents or next of kin where the decedent was in their custody and had not been legally surrendered or abandoned; and otherwise the legally adoptive parents or the administrator for their benefit. It is worth confirming who holds the right before anything is filed.
My parent died and there is a surviving spouse who left years ago. Can they take the claim?
Not necessarily. Under § 20-5-106(c) a surviving spouse’s right to institute the action and collect any recovery is waived if the children or next of kin establish that the spouse abandoned the decedent as described in § 36-4-101(a)(13), or willfully withdrew for two years. Where the abandonment or withdrawal lasted two years, a rebuttable presumption of abandonment arises. The children or next of kin have to prove it, so the documentation matters.
How long do we have to file?
Generally one year from the date of death, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A). A two-year extension exists under § 28-3-104(a)(2), but only where criminal charges were brought, a prosecution was commenced within one year by an officer, district attorney general or grand jury, and the civil suit is against the person prosecuted. The statute says it is to be strictly construed, so it is not something to plan around.
What can the family actually recover?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-113 provides two categories: the decedent’s own mental and physical suffering, loss of time and necessary expenses resulting from the injuries, and the damages to the beneficiaries resulting from the death. In practice that generally includes medical and funeral expenses, conscious pain and suffering where there was an interval before death, lost earning capacity, the pecuniary value of the life including services and guidance, and loss of consortium.
Is there a limit on what a family can recover?
Economic damages such as medical bills, funeral expenses and lost earnings are not capped. Non-economic damages are capped at $750,000 under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102, rising to $1,000,000 for catastrophic injuries — a category that expressly includes the wrongful death of a parent leaving a surviving minor child. The cap is an aggregate figure and the jury is not told about it; the court applies it after the verdict.
Does the cap ever not apply at all?
Yes, in four situations set out in § 29-39-102(h): where the defendant acted with specific intent to inflict serious physical injury; where records containing material evidence were falsified, destroyed or concealed to avoid liability; where the defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the degree that judgment was substantially impaired and that caused the injury; or where the defendant’s act results in a felony conviction that caused the damages. The impairment and felony-conviction exceptions come up in fatal crash cases.
The driver has been criminally charged. Do we still need a civil case?
They are separate proceedings with separate purposes. The criminal case is brought by the State to punish, with proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the family are witnesses rather than parties. The civil case is brought by the statutory beneficiary to compensate, with proof by a preponderance of the evidence. A criminal case does not pause the civil one-year deadline, and waiting for it to finish is a common and costly mistake.
Do we have to open an estate?
It depends on who holds the claim. Where a surviving spouse or the children or next of kin hold the right of action under § 20-5-106, an estate may not be necessary for the injury claim itself. Where the personal representative is the proper party, or where there are other estate matters, an appointment will be needed. This is one of the first questions to sort out, because it affects who can sign anything.
Can creditors take the settlement?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106 provides that funds recovered in a wrongful death action are free from the claims of creditors. That is a meaningful protection where an estate carries debt. Medical providers, health plans and government programs may still assert reimbursement or lien rights connected to the treatment itself, and those are addressed as part of resolving the case.
What if our family member was partly at fault?
Tennessee follows modified comparative fault with a 50% bar. If the decedent’s share of fault was less than the defendant’s, the claim proceeds with the recovery reduced by that percentage; where there are multiple defendants, the decedent’s share is compared to their combined fault. At 50% there is no recovery. Because the person who could explain what happened is not here, physical evidence and prompt investigation carry a great deal of weight.
The insurance company offered a settlement already. Should we accept it?
An offer made in the first weeks is generally made before anyone knows what the claim involves — before medical records are complete, before the coverage investigation is done, and sometimes before it is even settled who holds the right to sign. A release cannot be undone. It is reasonable to ask someone to review it before you respond, and nothing requires you to answer quickly.
What does it cost to talk to a lawyer about this?
Nothing. The consultation is free and does not obligate you to do anything. If we are hired, injury and wrongful death cases are handled on a contingency fee, which means there is no attorney fee unless there is a recovery for the family. If we do not think you need a lawyer, we will say so.
This page is general information about Tennessee law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every claim turns on its own facts. Past results do not guarantee a future outcome. Statutes and insurance requirements change — confirm current law before you act.
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About the author: Larry “Jimmy” Peters
Founder & Personal Injury Attorney, Southern Injury Attorneys
Licensed in Tennessee (BPR #37889), Mississippi, Arkansas (#2020103), Texas (#24113438), Kentucky, and Georgia (#936535).
Jimmy Peters founded Southern Injury Attorneys with one mission: maximizing compensation for people injured in car, truck, and premises-liability accidents across Tennessee and the Mid-South, including Bartlett and Shelby County. He and his team handle auto and 18-wheeler crashes, slip-and-fall and other injury claims on a contingency fee — no fee unless the firm wins — and he personally reviews the firm’s legal content for accuracy. ★ 4.8/5 from 96 verified Google reviews. If you were hurt in Bartlett or anywhere in Shelby County, the consultation is free.
