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Montana wrongful death lawyers
If you lost someone you love in a car or truck crash, no website has the right words. What we can offer is this: when you’re ready to ask questions, you’ll talk to a lawyer who will answer them honestly, carry the legal weight so your family doesn’t have to, and never pressure you about anything.
You don't have to figure this out today
In the days after a fatal crash, families are asked to make more decisions than anyone should face at once — arrangements, paperwork, insurance calls, and questions they’ve never had to think about before. If you’re reading this page in the middle of that, we’re sorry you’re here.
A conversation with us is not a commitment. It’s a chance to understand what your family’s rights are, what deadlines exist, and what — if anything — you want to do about them. Some families call in the first week. Some call months later. Both are okay.
What we’d gently say is this: even if you’re not ready to make decisions, a short call lets us protect your options — preserving evidence and deadlines quietly in the background — so that whenever your family is ready, nothing has been lost.
Your family's rights under Montana law, in plain language
When a crash takes someone’s life because of another driver’s or company’s negligence, Montana law gives the family a civil claim. It is separate from any criminal case, and it does not depend on whether criminal charges are filed. There are generally two related claims:
The wrongful death claim
For what the family has lost: the relationship, care, companionship, guidance, and support of the person who died.
The survival claim
The claim your loved one would have had if they had lived, including their medical expenses and what they experienced before death.
These claims are typically brought together by the personal representative of the estate on behalf of the family. Part of what we do is handle that structure — who files, on whose behalf, and how any recovery is distributed — so the legal mechanics never fall on a grieving family to sort out. If no estate has been opened yet, we help with that step too.
Nothing replaces a person. The law provides what it can.
No settlement or verdict brings back the person you lost, and we will never talk about your family member as a number. What a wrongful death claim does is protect the family’s future and hold the responsible party accountable.
- The income and financial support your loved one provided
- Medical expenses from the crash and final expenses
- The loss of care, companionship, guidance, and consortium
- What your loved one endured between the crash and their death
- In cases of extreme misconduct, punitive damages where available
We’ll be honest with you about what the law does and doesn’t provide in your specific situation — including an honest answer if we believe a claim isn’t viable. Families deserve straight answers, especially now.
Take the time you need. Let us protect the clock.
We won’t manufacture urgency on this page. But we owe you honesty about two things.
Evidence fades.
Vehicles get salvaged, camera footage gets overwritten, and in truck cases, company records can be legally destroyed after set retention periods. Preserving all of it requires formal demands, sent early.
Deadlines exist.
Montana law limits how long a family has to bring a wrongful death claim, and claims involving government vehicles can carry much shorter notice requirements. We will confirm the exact deadlines that apply to your family.
This is exactly why an early, no-commitment call helps: we can quietly secure the evidence and calendar every deadline while your family focuses on each other. You decide everything else on your own timeline.
When the crash involved a commercial truck
Fatal crashes involving semis and commercial trucks bring an added reality: the trucking company’s investigators and insurers often begin working the case within hours. Families should not have to think about that — so we do. In fatal truck cases we move immediately to preserve driver logs, onboard data, camera footage, and the vehicles themselves, and we handle every contact with the company and its insurers so no one ever calls your home.
What working with us actually looks like
One lawyer who knows your case
Not a rotating cast. You will have a direct line, and we return calls.
We come to you
Your home, or wherever is easiest. Anywhere in Montana.
You choose the pace
Weekly updates, monthly updates, or only when something matters. Your call.
We shield you
Every insurance call, every records request, every legal filing goes through us, not your family.
No fee unless we recover for your family. No upfront costs, and everything explained in writing before you decide anything.
Questions families ask us
Generally, the claim is brought by the personal representative of your loved one’s estate on behalf of the surviving family members. If no estate has been opened yet, we help with that step too — it’s simpler than it sounds, and we handle the paperwork.
Montana law sets a limited period from the date of death, and shorter notice deadlines can apply when a government vehicle or public entity is involved. A brief call lets us confirm the exact deadlines that apply to your situation — with no obligation to do anything further.
Nothing up front, ever. We work on contingency: our fee is a percentage of any recovery, and if there is no recovery, your family owes no attorney fee. The consultation is free.
Most wrongful death claims resolve without a trial, but we prepare every case as if it will be tried — that preparation is what produces fair settlements. If trial becomes the right path, we’ll walk your family through exactly what to expect, and you’ll make that decision together with us.
No — the civil claim is separate and doesn’t require waiting for (or winning) the criminal case. In fact, evidence preservation for the civil claim should begin promptly even while the criminal process unfolds. We coordinate around the criminal case so your family isn’t caught between the two.
Montana follows comparative negligence rules, which means partial fault reduces a recovery rather than automatically ending it. Don’t assume there’s no case based on what an insurance adjuster or police report suggests. Let us look at the evidence first.
When you're ready, we're here.
One conversation. No pressure, no commitment — just honest answers about your family’s rights and what we can quietly take off your shoulders.
Related: Truck accidents · Car accidents · About the firm