768.21
Damages.
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768.21 Damages.—All potential beneficiaries of a recovery for wrongful death, including the decedent’s estate, shall be identified in the complaint, and their relationships to the decedent shall be alleged. Damages may be awarded as follows:
(1) Each survivor may recover the value of lost support and services from the date of the decedent’s injury to her or his death, with interest, and future loss of support and services from the date of death and reduced to present value. In evaluating loss of support and services, the survivor’s relationship to the decedent, the amount of the decedent’s probable net income available for distribution to the particular survivor, and the replacement value of the decedent’s services to the survivor may be considered. In computing the duration of future losses, the joint life expectancies of the survivor and the decedent and the period of minority, in the case of healthy minor children, may be considered.
(2) The surviving spouse may also recover for loss of the decedent’s companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury.
(3) Minor children of the decedent, and all children of the decedent if there is no surviving spouse, may also recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. For the purposes of this subsection, if both spouses die within 30 days of one another as a result of the same wrongful act or series of acts arising out of the same incident, each spouse is considered to have been predeceased by the other.
(4) Each parent of a deceased minor child may also recover for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. Each parent of an adult child may also recover for mental pain and suffering if there are no other survivors.
(5) Medical or funeral expenses due to the decedent’s injury or death may be recovered by a survivor who has paid them.
(6) The decedent’s personal representative may recover for the decedent’s estate the following:
(a) Loss of earnings of the deceased from the date of injury to the date of death, less lost support of survivors excluding contributions in kind, with interest. Loss of the prospective net accumulations of an estate, which might reasonably have been expected but for the wrongful death, reduced to present money value, may also be recovered:
1. If the decedent’s survivors include a surviving spouse or lineal descendants; or
2. If the decedent is not a minor child as defined in s. 768.18(2), there are no lost support and services recoverable under subsection (1), and there is a surviving parent.
(b) Medical or funeral expenses due to the decedent’s injury or death that have become a charge against her or his estate or that were paid by or on behalf of decedent, excluding amounts recoverable under subsection (5).
Evidence of remarriage of the decedent’s spouse is admissible.
(7) All awards for the decedent’s estate are subject to the claims of creditors who have complied with the requirements of probate law concerning claims.
(8) The damages specified in subsection (3) shall not be recoverable by adult children and the damages specified in subsection (4) shall not be recoverable by parents of an adult child with respect to claims for medical negligence as defined by s. 766.106(1).
History.—s. 1, ch. 72-35; s. 2, ch. 81-183; s. 1, ch. 85-260; s. 2, ch. 90-14; s. 1169, ch. 97-102; s. 1, ch. 2002-44; s. 66, ch. 2003-416; s. 163, ch. 2020-2.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 227
cases (19 in the last 5 years), 1972–2026 · leading case: BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Meeks
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Meeks (2003)
“§ 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2002). The dispute in this case centers on the measure of damages recoverable by a minor child under section 768.”
Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2006)
“Fla. Stat. Ann. § 768.21 (6). 30 A personal representative *272 may recover on behalf of minor children the value of lost support and services, the loss of parental companionship, instruction and guidance, and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury.”
Vildibill v. Johnson (1986)
“Similarly, the decedent's parents are precluded from recovering damages for lost support and services pursuant to section 768.21(1), Florida Statutes (1983), because they were not wholly or partly dependent upon their son for support and services.”
Meeks v. Florida Power & Light Co. (2002)
“[7] Thus in our search for the legislative intent and in keeping with these general rules of statutory construction, we will examine the other subsections of section 768.21 that have provisions similar to subsection (3).”
Gwendolyn E. Odom, etc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (2018)
“" § 768.21(3), Fla. Stat. (2014). Thus, an adult child twenty-five years or older has a right to claim noneconomic damages under the wrongful death statute only if there is no surviving spouse.”
Sanchez v. Schindler (1983)
“Code Ann. § 3-904(d) (1980); Mass.Ann. Laws ch. 229 § 1 (Michie/Law Co-Op 1982); Mich.”
Bradley v. Sebelius (2010)
“Fla. Stat. § 768.21 (3). The FWDA contemplates that damages allowed an estate are separate and distinct from damages recoverable by the deceased's survivors.”
Domino's Pizza v. Wiederhold (2018)
“Section 768.21 specifies the types of damages that may be awarded to “each survivor” and additional types of damages for certain survivors, including a “surviving spouse.”
Estate of McCall v. United States (2009)
“Fla. Stat. § 768.21 (1). A minor child of the decedent may also recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering.”
Greenfield v. Daniels (2010)
“” § 768.21(1), Fla. Stat. (2005). Minor children “may also recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of the injury.”
Thompson v. Hodson (2002)
“See §§ 768.21, .25, Fla. Stat. (1993); see also Dudley, 799 So.”
Laizure v. Avante at Leesburg, Inc. (2013)
“The Act also provides for damages that may be recovered by the survivors, see § 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2008), and requires that “[t]he amounts awarded to each survivor and to the estate shall be stated separately in the verdict.”
— 768.21(1) — 32 cases
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Meeks (2003)
“§ 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2002). The dispute in this case centers on the measure of damages recoverable by a minor child under section 768.”
Greenfield v. Daniels (2010)
“” § 768.21(1), Fla. Stat. (2005). Minor children “may also recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of the injury.”
Vildibill v. Johnson (1986)
“Similarly, the decedent's parents are precluded from recovering damages for lost support and services pursuant to section 768.21(1), Florida Statutes (1983), because they were not wholly or partly dependent upon their son for support and services.”
Meeks v. Florida Power & Light Co. (2002)
“[7] Thus in our search for the legislative intent and in keeping with these general rules of statutory construction, we will examine the other subsections of section 768.21 that have provisions similar to subsection (3).”
ACandS, Inc. v. Redd (1997)
— 768.21(2) — 27 cases
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Meeks (2003)
“§ 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2002). The dispute in this case centers on the measure of damages recoverable by a minor child under section 768.”
Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2006)
“Fla. Stat. Ann. § 768.21 (6). 30 A personal representative *272 may recover on behalf of minor children the value of lost support and services, the loss of parental companionship, instruction and guidance, and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury.”
McQueen v. Jersani (2005)
Angrand v. Key (1995)
Wilbur v. Hightower (2001)
— 768.21(2)(3) — 1 case
— 768.21(3) — 33 cases
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Meeks (2003)
“§ 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2002). The dispute in this case centers on the measure of damages recoverable by a minor child under section 768.”
Gwendolyn E. Odom, etc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (2018)
“" § 768.21(3), Fla. Stat. (2014). Thus, an adult child twenty-five years or older has a right to claim noneconomic damages under the wrongful death statute only if there is no surviving spouse.”
Meeks v. Florida Power & Light Co. (2002)
“[7] Thus in our search for the legislative intent and in keeping with these general rules of statutory construction, we will examine the other subsections of section 768.21 that have provisions similar to subsection (3).”
— 768.21(4) — 29 cases
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. v. Meeks (2003)
“§ 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2002). The dispute in this case centers on the measure of damages recoverable by a minor child under section 768.”
Estate of Heiser v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2006)
“Fla. Stat. Ann. § 768.21 (6). 30 A personal representative *272 may recover on behalf of minor children the value of lost support and services, the loss of parental companionship, instruction and guidance, and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury.”
Vildibill v. Johnson (1986)
“Similarly, the decedent's parents are precluded from recovering damages for lost support and services pursuant to section 768.21(1), Florida Statutes (1983), because they were not wholly or partly dependent upon their son for support and services.”
Thompson v. Hodson (2002)
“See §§ 768.21, .25, Fla. Stat. (1993); see also Dudley, 799 So.”
— 768.21(5) — 7 cases
Scott v. Estate of Myers (2004)
Brown v. Seebach (1991)
Krouse v. Krouse (1986)
— 768.21(6) — 18 cases
Koile v. State (2006)
Domino's Pizza v. Wiederhold (2018)
“Section 768.21 specifies the types of damages that may be awarded to “each survivor” and additional types of damages for certain survivors, including a “surviving spouse.”
Thompson v. Hodson (2002)
“See §§ 768.21, .25, Fla. Stat. (1993); see also Dudley, 799 So.”
— 768.21(6)(a) — 22 cases
Vildibill v. Johnson (1986)
“Similarly, the decedent's parents are precluded from recovering damages for lost support and services pursuant to section 768.21(1), Florida Statutes (1983), because they were not wholly or partly dependent upon their son for support and services.”
Marks v. Delcastillo (1980)
Capiello v. Goodnight (1978)
— 768.21(6)(a)(l) — 2 cases
Brown v. Seebach (1991)
Grayson v. United States (1990)
— 768.21(6)(b) — 15 cases
Domino's Pizza v. Wiederhold (2018)
“Section 768.21 specifies the types of damages that may be awarded to “each survivor” and additional types of damages for certain survivors, including a “surviving spouse.”
Thompson v. Hodson (2002)
“See §§ 768.21, .25, Fla. Stat. (1993); see also Dudley, 799 So.”
Koile v. State (2006)
Horton v. Channing (1997)
— 768.21(6)(c) — 3 cases
Mapps v. Wolff (1990)
— 768.21(8) — 15 cases
Stewart v. Price (1998)
— 768.21(l) — 2 cases
Franzen v. Mogler (1997)
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