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A death that should never have happened leaves a Montgomery family with questions nobody is ready to ask. Who was responsible? Can they be made to answer for it? Alabama says yes, through a claim brought in the name of the person who died, and the law is strict about who may bring that claim and how soon. The Wilson PC’s Montgomery wrongful death lawyers have more than 1400+ excellent reviews and have recovered millions for the people we represent. We open the estate, speak to the insurers for you and seek full accountability under the Alabama Wrongful Death Act, at a pace your family can live with.
Families can find our Dexter Avenue address, a map and the other ways we help River Region residents on our Montgomery, AL office page.
Nothing to Pay Unless We Recover
Your household may have lost an income along with a person. Hiring The Wilson PC for a Montgomery wrongful death claim costs nothing at the start, and no attorney fee is owed unless money is recovered. We also advance the filing fees and expert costs while the case is pending.
Help in English and Español
Someone on our team picks up at any hour, in English and Español. Relatives calling from Prattville, Wetumpka or out of state get the same patient answers as the family member sitting in our office.
Let Us Answer the Insurance Company
A claims representative may contact you before the funeral with a check and a form to sign. In Alabama a jury sets wrongful death damages according to how blameworthy the conduct was, and no statutory ceiling applies, so an early payment is rarely measured the way a jury would measure it. Send those calls to us and sign nothing until we have looked at it.
The ALDOT 2024 Alabama Crash Facts report counts 967 people killed on Alabama roads in 2024. 44 of them died in Montgomery County. Those numbers cover traffic alone; they leave out the deaths caused by unsafe worksites, neglected buildings, dangerous products and poor care. Behind each one is a family in the River Region that was given no warning.
Alabama handles these cases in a way that surprises most people. The Wrongful Death Act, Ala. Code § 6-5-410, lets one person bring the lawsuit: the personal representative of the estate. A widow, a son or a parent of an adult child cannot file in their own name. The damages are also different. A jury does not add up bills or paychecks. It decides what amount will punish the wrongdoer and discourage others from doing the same thing, and the usual limit on punitive damages is lifted for wrongful death cases.
A claim like that is won on the details of what the defendant did. The Wilson PC has handled injury and death claims for over 13+ years, and we put that experience into finding the decisions that led to the death: the skipped inspection, the third drink, the phone in the driver’s hand. We also prepare for the argument that the person who died was partly to blame, because insurers raise it in nearly every Alabama case. Our Montgomery office is at 445 Dexter Avenue, Suite 4050, Montgomery, AL 36104, and the estate filing, the evidence and the insurance company all become our responsibility once you hire us.
Please accept our condolences. Nothing on this list has to be done today, and we can do most of it for you. When your family feels able, these are the things that keep a Montgomery wrongful death claim safe:
Families often tell us they do not know where to begin. You do not have to. Once we are hired, the court filings, the investigation and every conversation with an insurance company move to our desk, and our aim is a result that holds the responsible person or business to account.
The work starts with facts. We visit the scene, download vehicle data, request the Montgomery Police Department case file, send preservation letters for video and company records, and bring in engineers or physicians when the cause of death is disputed. When an insurer refuses to treat the claim seriously, the lawsuit is filed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court and readied for trial at the Phelps-Price Justice Center.
What your family can expect from us:
In most states a wrongful death verdict is built from the family’s losses. Alabama does not do it that way. Here the award is punitive in nature. Jurors are asked how blameworthy the defendant was and what sum would punish that behavior and warn others away from it. The family’s expenses and income are not the yardstick. A Montgomery wrongful death verdict therefore rises or falls on the evidence of the defendant’s conduct.
Evidence that tends to matter most to a jury:
Alabama law adds several protections for the family:
One caution applies when a city or county is the defendant: recovery against local government is limited by statute to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence. And since the wrongful death action is not designed to repay what your household has lost, we look at other sources as well, including life insurance and the auto policies that covered your relative, and explain each option plainly.
Montgomery is where two interstates meet, and the I-65 / I-85 interchange carries commuters, long-haul trucks and travelers heading to the coast. Fatal wrecks also happen on U.S. 231 (Eastern Boulevard / Troy Highway), U.S. 80 and the residential streets of Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka, Pike Road and Cloverdale. Inside the city limits the Montgomery Police Department investigates. Beyond them the work falls to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office or to Alabama state troopers. Montgomery County lost 44 people to traffic crashes in 2024.
Geography decides more than which officer responds. A wrongful death suit may be filed only in a county where the person who died could have brought a claim. The estate is administered by the Montgomery County Probate Court, and the trial takes place in the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit). Because Montgomery is the seat of state government, the vehicle or property involved sometimes belongs to a public agency, and a claim against the State goes to the Board of Adjustment under Ala. Code § 41-9-62 instead of to a jury.
The Wilson PC has represented grieving families through the hardest weeks of their lives. We know how to request records from local agencies and from Baptist Medical Center South, Jackson Hospital and Baptist Medical Center East, when an outside expert is worth the cost, and how to respond when an insurer points the finger at someone who can no longer give their side.
The Wilson PC Personal Injury Attorneys – Here for River Region Families
You may not know yet whether the death of your relative in Montgomery gives rise to a claim. Call (470) 575-6130 and ask. We will listen, explain what Alabama law permits, and tell you the truth about the strengths and weaknesses of the case.
Families looking for a wrongful death lawyer in Montgomery, AL will find The Wilson PC on Dexter Avenue in downtown Montgomery, a short walk from the State Capitol and the Phelps-Price Justice Center. Come to the office, ask us to visit your home, or talk with us by phone or video if gathering everyone in one place is too much right now.
MILLIONS recovered for families after fatal crashes and accidents of every kind.
The wrongdoer might be a motorist who never looked up from a screen, a freight carrier that pushed a tired driver to keep going, or a landlord who knew about a danger and left it alone. The purpose of Alabama’s law is to punish conduct like that so other families are spared.
Your Family Will Not Face This Alone.
The personal representative brings a Montgomery wrongful death case, and the proof follows the four parts of any negligence claim. Our job is to establish all four while answering the contributory negligence defense the insurer is likely to raise:
First comes a duty of care owed to the person who died. Motorists on I-85 must keep a lookout and obey traffic laws. Businesses must repair hazards or warn visitors about them. Companies must put safe products on the market. Bars and stores must refuse another drink to a customer who is visibly intoxicated.
Second is a breach: the defendant did not meet that duty. Running a red light, letting brakes go unserviced and leaving a broken stair unrepaired are breaches through carelessness. Alabama treats conscious or reckless disregard for other people’s safety as wantonness, and proof of wantonness both increases what a jury may award and takes the contributory negligence defense away from the defendant.
Third is causation. The breach has to be the reason your relative died. Autopsy findings, treatment records, the Montgomery Police Department file, crash reconstruction and internal company documents are the tools we use to connect what the defendant did to the death.
Fourth, there must be a death and a lawsuit started by the correct party no later than two years afterward. The amount awarded reflects how culpable the defendant was, which is why we document the conduct so thoroughly. Insurers may claim the decedent was careless too. We answer with evidence that they were not, or with proof that the defendant behaved wantonly or could still have prevented the accident at the last moment.
Insurance companies train their representatives to be gentle with bereaved families, and many of them are sincere. The company’s goal is unchanged: close the file for the smallest amount. Alabama law hands it two tools. The first is contributory negligence. If the company can show that your relative’s own carelessness played a part, it may owe nothing. The second is speed. An offer made in the first month arrives before anyone has examined the defendant’s conduct, which is the very thing that determines the value of the claim.
Insurers also count on what families have not yet learned: that an estate must be opened, that the personal representative is the only person with authority to sue or settle, and that a city is entitled to notice within six months. An unrepresented family can lose rights without knowing they existed.
With a Montgomery wrongful death lawyer involved, those advantages disappear. We file in the Montgomery County Probate Court, notify every insurer in writing, lock down the evidence and show the company how the case would look to jurors in the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit). Offers tend to change once an insurer sees that a trial is a real possibility.
You do not have to come in. Many families prefer a phone or video call at first, and we are happy to visit your home or meet relatives who are travelling in for the service. If you would like to sit down with us, the office is at 445 Dexter Avenue, Suite 4050, Montgomery, AL 36104, on Dexter Avenue in downtown Montgomery, a short walk from the State Capitol and the Phelps-Price Justice Center. Parking is available nearby. Bring whatever paperwork you have, such as the death certificate or the crash report, but do not worry if you have none of it yet. Call (470) 575-6130 and we will set a time that suits your family, including evenings.
Grieving comes first, and none of this is urgent in the first few days. After that, four things help. Order certified copies of the death certificate. Keep the hospital paperwork, the funeral invoice and anything tied to the accident, including the car, photographs and text messages. Obtain the crash report from ALEA or ask the Montgomery Police Department how to request its file. And politely refuse to give any insurer a recorded statement or a signature. When you are ready, a Montgomery wrongful death lawyer can start the appointment of a personal representative in the Montgomery County Probate Court, which Alabama requires before a lawsuit can be filed. We offer that first meeting free, and you can take as long as you need to decide.
We take over the legal side completely, so that your time goes to your family. In practice that means:
Ala. Code § 6-5-410(d) requires the lawsuit to be started within two years after the death. The clock keeps running while the probate court appoints a personal representative, so the estate should be opened well ahead of the deadline.
Government defendants shorten the time considerably. The City of Montgomery, like any Alabama municipality, must receive a sworn claim within six months. Montgomery County requires presentation to the county commission within twelve months. When a state agency is responsible, the claim is heard by the State Board of Adjustment. For a minor child, the parents have the first right to sue, and the personal representative may file if six months go by. Proof has its own deadline: surveillance systems record over old footage and damaged vehicles are sold for salvage. Early action protects both the claim and the evidence.
Not directly. Ala. Code § 6-5-410(a) gives the right to sue to the personal representative of the estate and to no one else. Relatives, however close, have no authority to file or settle unless one of them has been appointed to that role. In most families a spouse, adult child or parent asks the Montgomery County Probate Court for the appointment, and preparing that request is the first thing we do.
Alabama makes an exception when the person who died was a minor. Ala. Code § 6-5-391 allows the parents to bring the case in their own names, with the personal representative permitted to file if they have not done so in six months. In either situation the money is divided among the legal heirs under the intestacy statute. A will does not control it, and creditors of the estate have no claim to it.
Alabama stands nearly alone on this point. Under Ala. Code § 6-5-410 the damages are punitive only. Jurors do not total hospital charges or future earnings. They consider how serious the wrongdoing was and choose an amount meant to punish it and to discourage anyone else from repeating it. Someone who drove while intoxicated, or a business that disregarded repeated warnings, can expect a much heavier verdict than a person guilty of a brief lapse in attention.
The law protects the award in two ways. Section 6-11-21(j) says the ordinary cap on punitive damages has no application to wrongful death, and the recovery is paid to the heirs under the intestacy statute without passing through the estate or being used for the decedent’s debts. Claims against a city or county are the exception, since recovery from local government is limited by statute. We also check whether other claims or insurance benefits are available to your family.
Set both aside until a Montgomery wrongful death lawyer has read them. A company that pays quickly is usually protecting itself from what a jury might do later, and the figure it chooses assumes the family is unaware that Alabama measures these damages by the wrongdoer’s conduct and places no general cap on them.
Signing ends the matter permanently. If it turns out afterward that the driver had been drinking, or that the company had a history of violations, nothing can be done. There is a second problem as well: only a court-appointed personal representative has authority to settle. We will compare the offer with the evidence and tell you what we think, without charge and without any obligation to hire us.
Every case begins in the Montgomery County Probate Court, where the appointment of a personal representative commonly takes several weeks. After that, timing depends on the defendant. When fault is obvious and the insurance coverage is adequate, a settlement within about a year is realistic. Claims against trucking companies or other corporations, claims where fault is contested, and claims involving wanton conduct usually require a lawsuit in the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit), and those may run a year and a half or more before trial or settlement.
We keep cases moving, and we will always tell you where yours stands. We do advise against closing a claim until the defendant’s actions have been fully investigated, since those actions are what an Alabama jury uses to set the award.
Yes, in ways that help the family. Alabama law defines wantonness as reckless or conscious disregard of other people’s safety, and choosing to drive while intoxicated fits that definition. Wantonness justifies a higher punitive award. It also prevents the insurer from defeating the claim with a contributory negligence argument about your relative.
There may be a second defendant. Under the dram shop statute, Ala. Code § 6-5-71, a bar, restaurant or retailer can be liable for knowingly serving or selling alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person who goes on to cause a death. We find out where the driver had been, then seek tabs, receipts and camera footage before they are discarded. Criminal charges are brought by the district attorney with the help of the Montgomery Police Department. Your family’s civil claim is a separate case, and it does not depend on a conviction.
Evidence disappears quickly, so our first letters go out within days. We focus on four groups:
Yes. The Wilson PC takes wrongful death cases on a contingency fee. The fee is a share of the recovery, set out in a written agreement at the beginning, and we pay the expenses of the case as they come up: probate filing fees, record charges, expert witnesses and court costs. No recovery means no attorney fee.
That arrangement lets any family in Montgomery or the surrounding River Region pursue a claim against a large insurer or corporation, whether it ends in a negotiated settlement or a jury trial in the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit). The first consultation is free and whatever you tell us stays confidential.
Not necessarily, though the issue is serious. Contributory negligence applies in Alabama wrongful death cases. If the defense proves that the decedent was negligent and that this negligence helped cause the accident, the claim can fail. The burden of proving it rests on the defendant.
Several rules limit the defense. It does not apply when the defendant’s conduct was wanton, as with impaired driving or street racing. Under the last clear chance doctrine, a defendant who saw the danger in time and could have avoided the accident remains liable. Ala. Code § 32-5B-7 forbids treating the lack of a seat belt as contributory negligence. Your relative is not here to explain what happened, so we reconstruct it from the physical evidence, the witnesses and the records. An adjuster’s opinion about fault is only an opinion, and your family should get independent advice before accepting it.
No family in Montgomery expects to be interviewing lawyers while planning a funeral. Look for three things. The firm should know how differently Alabama treats wrongful death claims. It should manage the Montgomery County Probate Court filing and the insurance companies without handing you more to do. And the people you deal with should be patient, respectful and willing to explain things twice.
Our goal in every wrongful death case is complete accountability under Alabama law, with every responsible party brought into the claim.
We understand that money can be tight, so we work quickly to get you the compensation you deserve.
Navigating the legal system can be tricky, but we’re experts. We know all the rules and strategies to make sure your voice is heard.
We’re professionals, and we hold ourselves to high standards.
We don’t want to add to your burdens. We’ll handle everything related to your compensation, making it a hassle-free experience for you.
We’re here to support you every step of the way in your journey to recovery. If you forget to tell us something, we’ll reach out and ask.
Think of us as your hosts. We’re happy to get to know you and assist you in any way we can.
We’ll explain everything you need to know and keep you updated. You can always reach out to us if you have questions.
Contact us today if you or a loved one have been injured in an accident. Your consultation is free, quick and confidential.
Be it understanding your rights, navigating legal procedures, or fighting for your just compensation, you can depend on The Wilson PC!
