As Texas heads into another back-to-school season, the rule that matters most has not gotten easier: there is still no fixed payout chart for a wrongful death case, and in most ordinary negligence cases there is no general damages cap. That is hard news when a family wants a number fast.

Picture a Fort Worth example. A parent is driving distracted near a school-zone crosswalk, hits a pedestrian, and the injured person dies two days later at John Peter Smith Hospital. The family may hear anything from $50,000 to seven figures, but the real value depends on who is bringing which claim and what losses can be proved.

In Texas, wrongful death claims belong to the spouse, children, and parents of the person who died. Siblings cannot file a Texas wrongful death claim. Those family claims can seek money for lost financial support, loss of companionship and society, mental anguish, and lost inheritance.

A separate survival action is different. That claim belongs to the estate and covers what the person could have claimed had they lived, such as medical bills, lost wages before death, and the person's conscious pain and suffering between injury and death. If the person lived for hours or days after the crash, that can matter a lot.

Funeral and burial costs are usually claimed by the estate or the family member who paid them, depending on how the case is structured.

The deadline is usually 2 years from the date of death in Texas. If the spouse, children, or parents do not file within 3 months, the estate's personal representative may file, unless the family asks that no case be brought.

In a stronger Fort Worth case with clear fault, real earnings history, and close family proof, value can be hundreds of thousands or more. In a weaker case with disputed fault or limited provable losses, it can be much less.