What Parents Can Recover for a Child's Death in Pennsylvania

When a child dies through someone else's negligence in Pennsylvania, parents may recover through two claims. The wrongful death claim under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8301 covers medical, funeral and estate expenses plus the value of the child's services, which the Pennsylvania Superior Court has held includes society and comfort (Rettger v. UPMC Shadyside; Hatwood v. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania). The survival claim under § 8302 belongs to the child's estate and covers the child's pain and suffering and lost earning power. Pennsylvania does not recognize a separate claim for filial consortium, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has barred parents' non-pecuniary losses against the Commonwealth (Department of Public Welfare v. Schultz). Most claims must be filed within two years.

If you are reading this because you lost your child, I am sorry. Nothing here measures what your son or daughter meant to you, and the law does not pretend to. This page is meant to answer the practical questions parents ask me, one at a time, so you can decide what to do when you are ready.

This page covers a child who was born alive, whether an infant, a teenager or an adult son or daughter. If you lost a baby before birth, please read our separate guide on wrongful death claims for an unborn child in Pennsylvania, because different rules apply.

The Two Claims After a Child's Death

Pennsylvania splits a death case into two claims with different purposes. In Kiser v. Schulte, 538 Pa. 219, 648 A.2d 1 (1994), the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania described them as designed to compensate "two different categories of claimants": the family, and the decedent through the estate. The Court also said the two actions "are cumulative and are not to overlap or result in duplication of damages."

	Wrongful death claim	Survival claim
Statute	42 Pa.C.S. § 8301	42 Pa.C.S. § 8302
Whose loss	The family's	The child's
Who benefits	Only "the spouse, children or parents of the deceased"	The child's estate
What it covers	Expenses, plus the value of the child's services, including society and comfort	The child's pain and suffering and lost earning power
Open to the child's creditors?	No. Distributed "without liability to creditors of the deceased person"	Yes. It is an estate asset

You can read more in our side-by-side comparison of wrongful death and survival claims.

What a Parent May Recover in the Wrongful Death Claim

• Medical and related expenses. Section 8301(c) allows "reasonable hospital, nursing, medical, funeral expenses and expenses of administration necessitated by reason of injuries causing death."
• The value of the child's services. Kiser states that wrongful death damages include "the present value of the services the deceased would have rendered to the family." This can include help at home and the care an adult child would likely have given aging parents.
• Society and comfort. This is the part parents ask about most, and it is covered in the next section.

For the general list of damages in any Pennsylvania death case, see what damages a Pennsylvania family can recover.

Can Parents Recover for Losing a Child's Love and Companionship?

The answer depends on how the claim is framed and on who the defendant is. Three rules work together.

Rule 1: There is no separate "filial consortium" claim

Pennsylvania does not allow a stand-alone lawsuit for loss of a child's consortium. In Department of Public Welfare v. Schultz, 579 Pa. 164, 855 A.2d 753 (2004), the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania wrote that consortium damages "are available only to spouses, and do not include a parent's loss of society and companionship of her child." The Superior Court said the same in McCaskill v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 419 Pa. Super. 313, 615 A.2d 382 (1992), relying on Quinn v. City of Pittsburgh (1914), and described the limit to spouses as a rule that "has remained undisturbed."

That is where many summaries stop, and it leaves a false impression. McCaskill and Quinn address consortium as a claim. They do not answer what the Wrongful Death Act allows.

Rule 2: Against private defendants, society and comfort are recoverable as "services" under the Wrongful Death Act

In Schultz, the Supreme Court expressly left this open: "we do not resolve the issue of whether the Wrongful Death Act, outside the context of sovereign immunity, permits recovery of such damages in a suit against a private party." The Superior Court has since answered it.

• Rettger v. UPMC Shadyside, 991 A.2d 915 (Pa. Super. 2010), appeal denied, 15 A.3d 491 (Pa. 2011). The parents of a 24-year-old man sued a hospital. The hospital argued that his only real services were yard work. The court held that family members may recover "the value of his services, including society and comfort," and that the term services "clearly extends to the profound emotional and psychological loss suffered upon the death of a parent or a child where the evidence establishes the negligence of another as its cause."
• Hatwood v. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 55 A.3d 1229 (Pa. Super. 2012). A boy with a brain injury sustained at birth died at 17 months. The defendants argued that non-pecuniary losses are too uncertain to recover. The court rejected that, quoting the Supreme Court in Spangler v. Helm's New York-Pittsburgh Motor Express (1959): companionship, comfort, society, guidance, solace and protection "are the things for which a wrongdoer must pay when he shatters the vase" of family happiness.
• Kimble v. Laser Spine Institute, LLC, 264 A.3d 782 (Pa. Super. 2021). In this later decision involving a spouse, the Superior Court said the Act "permits a claimant to recover both economic and noneconomic damages, including damages for loss of society and comfort."

In a 2025 non-precedential memorandum, Munoz v. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, No. 1388 EDA 2024 (Pa. Super. May 27, 2025), the Superior Court affirmed a judgment for the parents of a four-year-old boy. The memorandum quoted the trial court's explanation that "[i]t is possible that the jury considered the loss of companionship and society of a small child to his parents," the companionship and help he would have provided as a young adult, and the assistance he may have provided as his parents aged. The hospital argued on appeal that the award compensated the parents' grief and that loss of a child's society and companionship is not recoverable. The Superior Court held the hospital's post-verdict challenge unpreserved because it was not raised for the trial court's consideration, and said the hospital also "waived any right to claim on appeal that such damages were impermissible" after its own proposed jury instructions asked for companionship damages and its counsel admitted at trial that the jury could award them. The court separately found the verdict not excessive and gave no relief on the claim that it reflected sympathy or grief. Because of the waiver, the memorandum does not decide whether this loss is recoverable.

I have not found a decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania resolving the question Schultz reserved for parents, so Rettger, Hatwood and Kimble are the appellate authority I rely on. An attorney can confirm whether anything has changed when reviewing your case.

Rule 3: Against the Commonwealth, these losses are barred

Sovereign immunity changes the answer. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8528(c), damages against a Commonwealth party are limited to a short list that includes "Loss of consortium" but not society and comfort. Because consortium belongs to spouses, Schultz held that "a parent may not recover non-pecuniary losses from the Commonwealth resulting from the death of a child."

The Commonwealth Court applied that rule to SEPTA in Ebersole v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, 111 A.3d 286 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2015), and held that Rettger did not change the result.

County, city, township and school district defendants fall under a different list. 42 Pa.C.S. § 8553(c) also says "Loss of consortium" and adds "Loss of support." I expect a local agency to make the Schultz argument, but I did not find an appellate decision that settles this for a parent, so an attorney can confirm how it applies to your case.

Who is responsible	Parents' loss of society and comfort	Key authority
Private driver, company, hospital or landowner	Recoverable under the Wrongful Death Act if proven	Rettger; Hatwood
Commonwealth party, such as a state agency or SEPTA	Barred	Schultz; Ebersole
Local agency, such as a city or school district	Limited to the § 8553(c) list; application to parents should be reviewed	42 Pa.C.S. § 8553(c)
Separate "filial consortium" count against anyone	Not recognized	McCaskill; Schultz

Grief and the law

Parents should know about one distinction. In Mazzagatti v. Everingham, 512 Pa. 266, 516 A.2d 672 (1986), the Supreme Court noted that the common law "has traditionally denied a damage award for solatium," meaning compensation for "feelings of anguish, bereavement and grief." Rettger speaks of "profound emotional and psychological loss" while defining the value of the child's services, so the proof focuses on the relationship: what your child gave your family, and what would have continued.

How this is proven when a child was very young

Parents of infants sometimes fear there is nothing to prove. Hatwood addressed that directly: "What was true regarding the best available evidence of the value of a five-year-old child's life is even more true of an infant whose fatal injuries were sustained at birth." The court accepted testimony about a close-knit family, including an older brother who helped care for the baby, and said jurors may use "the common inheritance of intelligent human beings" in weighing it.

What the Child's Estate May Recover

The survival claim continues the claim your child would have had. Kiser lists "the decedent's pain and suffering, the loss of gross earning power from the date of injury until death, and the loss of his earning power — less personal maintenance expenses, from the time of death through his estimated working life span."

• Pain and suffering. This depends on what the child experienced between injury and death. In Nye v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, 331 Pa. Super. 209, 480 A.2d 318 (1984), the court stated that "where a decedent is killed instantaneously, there can be no recovery for pain and suffering in a survival action."
• Lost earning power. For a child with no work history, this usually requires economic testimony. In Munoz, an economist presented a range based on different education levels and retirement ages.

See our overview of the Pennsylvania survival action for more detail.

A note on limited tort in vehicle cases

Auto policies with the limited tort option restrict recovery for "pain and suffering or other nonmonetary damages" for household members unless an exception applies. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705 controls, and the definition of "Serious injury" in section 1702 begins with "A personal injury resulting in death." Our limited tort and full tort comparison explains the basics.

Who Receives the Money: The Minor's Estate and Intestacy

A young child will not have a will, and the wrongful death claim does not depend on one. Section 8301(b) borrows the intestacy rules of 20 Pa.C.S. Chapter 21: damages go to beneficiaries "in the proportion they would take the personal estate of the decedent in the case of intestacy." Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2103, what the spouse does not take passes "To the issue of the decedent," and "If no issue survives the decedent, then to the parents or parent of the decedent."

Your child left	Wrongful death share
No spouse and no children, and both parents survive	Both parents; persons in the same degree "take in equal shares" under § 2104(2)
No spouse and no children, and one parent survives	That parent
A child of their own, no spouse	The grandchild. The parents take no share of the wrongful death recovery
A spouse, no children	Spouse: "the first $30,000 plus one-half of the balance" under § 2102(2). Parents: the rest

Brothers and sisters are not wrongful death beneficiaries, because § 8301(b) names only the spouse, children or parents.

Survival proceeds are different. They go through the estate, where costs and debts come first, and then pass under the intestacy statute if there is no will. Under intestacy, a sibling takes survival proceeds under § 2103(3) only if no parent survives. For the full distribution rules, see who gets the money from a wrongful death settlement.

When a parent was absent from the child's life

Being a parent on paper may not be enough. Two separate rules apply.

• Forfeiture. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2106(b), a parent who "for one year or upwards previous to the death of the parent's minor or dependent child" failed in the duty of support, or deserted the child for one year, loses any right under the intestacy chapter. Certain child-related convictions also trigger it. The court weighs "the quality, nature and extent of the parent's contact with the child and the physical, emotional and financial support provided to the child." In a non-precedential 2017 judgment order, Turner v. Helen of Troy, L.P., No. 490 EDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Dec. 15, 2017), the Superior Court affirmed an order forfeiting a father's share of wrongful death proceeds after the death of his seven-year-old daughter, proceeds that would otherwise have been divided equally between her parents.
• Family relation and pecuniary loss. In a 2021 non-precedential memorandum, Beaver v. Powell, the Superior Court reversed an award to a father whose contact was "sporadic and inconsistent." By contrast, Berry v. Titus, 346 Pa. Super. 376, 499 A.2d 661 (1985), as Beaver describes it, allowed a divorced mother to share even though her 15-year-old son no longer lived with her, because of what she had given him.

If the other parent was absent, tell your attorney early, because a court decides these disputes.

If You Saw It Happen: Your Own Emotional Distress Claim

A parent who witnessed the event may have a separate claim of their own. In Sinn v. Burd, 486 Pa. 146, 404 A.2d 672 (1979), a mother watched from her home as a car struck and killed her daughter at the family mailbox. The Court held: "Where the bystander is a mother who witnessed the violent death of her small child and the emotional shock emanated directly from personal observation of the event, we hold as a matter of law that the mental distress and its effects is a foreseeable injury."

Sinn looked to three factors: whether the plaintiff was located near the scene; whether the shock "resulted from a direct emotional impact upon plaintiff from the sensory and contemporaneous observance of the accident"; and whether the plaintiff and victim were closely related.

The limit is hard. Mazzagatti denied recovery to a mother who reached the scene shortly after her daughter was struck, calling "contemporaneous observance of the injury" the "critical element." I know how unfair that line can feel to a parent who arrived minutes later. If you were present, or close enough to perceive what happened, tell your attorney. This claim belongs to you personally, so its deadline should be reviewed separately.

Who Files, and the Court's Role in Settlement

Under Pa.R.C.P. 2202(a), a wrongful death action "shall be brought only by the personal representative of the decedent," which usually means opening an estate for your child. If no action is filed within six months after the death, Rule 2202(b) allows a person entitled to recover to sue as trustee ad litem. Rule 2205 requires notice to each person entitled to recover, so a separated parent should learn of the case. See whether you have to open an estate before filing and who can file a wrongful death claim.

Whether a judge must approve a settlement depends on who has an interest, not on the age of the child who died.

• Wrongful death, minor or incapacitated beneficiary. Rule 2206(a) says no action "in which a minor or an incapacitated person has an interest" may be discontinued, and that person's interest may not be settled, until the court approves it "as being fair and equitable." This applies, for example, if your adult child left a minor child.
• Wrongful death, adult parents only. A deceased minor is not a beneficiary. A 1942 Philadelphia trial court read the rule that way in Hewitt v. Masser Motor Express, 43 Pa. D. & C. 514, reasoning that the minor there was the person who died, not someone with an interest in the recovery. Even so, Rule 2206(b)(1) lets "any party in interest" petition for an order "designating the persons entitled to share in the damages recovered and the proportionate share of the net proceeds to which each is entitled."
• Survival claim. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3323(b)(1), the court where the action is pending "may" approve the compromise of an action for damages on behalf of an estate, and the personal representative files a copy of the order with the register of wills or clerk.

Practice varies, so an attorney can confirm what your county requires. Our article on court approval of wrongful death settlements has more.

Could the Other Side Blame My Child, or Me?

Pennsylvania uses age-based rules from Kuhns v. Brugger, 390 Pa. 331, 135 A.2d 395 (1957). "[M]inors under the age of seven years are conclusively presumed incapable of negligence." Children between seven and fourteen are presumed incapable, but that presumption "is rebuttable and grows weaker with each year." Minors over fourteen are "presumptively capable of negligence."

For older teens and adult children, fault may be argued under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102, which does not bar recovery where a plaintiff's negligence "was not greater than the causal negligence of the defendant or defendants," but reduces damages proportionally. See what happens if your loved one was partly at fault. If a parent was driving or supervising, the analysis is harder. Please do not decide you have no claim because you blame yourself. Let an attorney look at the facts first.

Mistakes Parents Should Try to Avoid

• Assuming a child's death has no legal value because the child had no income. Hatwood and Rettger show otherwise.
• Giving a recorded statement to the other side's insurer before getting advice.
• Letting records and devices disappear. Keep your child's phone, photos, videos, school records and messages as they are.
• Signing anything that releases a claim before the estate is opened and the claims are understood.

Why Time Matters

• Two years. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2) applies to actions "for injuries to the person or for the death of an individual." A wrongful death claim is generally measured from the date of death, and a survival claim is generally measured from the date of injury. If your child lived for some time after being hurt, those dates differ.
• Minority tolling. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5533(b) pauses the clock when "an individual entitled to bring a civil action is an unemancipated minor." Parents should not assume this helps them. Parents' claims are separate from the child's, and Hathi v. Krewstown Park Apartments, 385 Pa. Super. 613, 561 A.2d 1261 (1989), treated parents' own claims arising from a child's injury as separate and not extended by the child's minority. If your child survived, our article on the statute of limitations for minors applies instead.
• Medical cases. MCARE section 513(d) says a death or survival action "must be commenced within two years after the death in the absence of affirmative misrepresentation or fraudulent concealment of the cause of death."
• Government defendants. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5522(a) generally requires written notice "Within six months." For a government unit other than the Commonwealth, if the injuries result in death, the time "shall commence with such death." See deadlines for claims against Pennsylvania government entities.

Please do not assume the clock waits until you learn what went wrong. Evidence also fades. Crash vehicles get repaired, video gets recorded over, and witnesses move away. Our guide on what to do after a fatal accident covers the first steps, and child pedestrian and bicycle accidents in school zones covers issues specific to those cases.

What Happens Next

1. A private conversation, at your pace, about what happened.
2. Investigation. Records are gathered, preservation letters should go out early where evidence is at risk, and everyone who may be responsible is identified.
3. Opening the estate so a personal representative can bring the claims.
4. Building the proof of who your child was and what your family lost, with economic and medical witnesses where needed.
5. Claims and filing with insurers and, if needed, in the Court of Common Pleas before the deadline.
6. Resolution and distribution, with court orders where required so each family member's share is clear.

Why Families Work With Quinlan Law Group

I am Sean Quinlan, a Pennsylvania attorney since 2001, with offices in Camp Hill and Harrisburg. The review is free and confidential, and it covers what deadlines apply, what the law allows and what it does not, including the limits described on this page. You can learn more about our Pennsylvania wrongful death practice or read answers to common wrongful death questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can parents recover for loss of a child's companionship in Pennsylvania?

Against private defendants, yes, as part of a wrongful death claim. The Superior Court held in Rettger v. UPMC Shadyside and Hatwood v. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania that the value of a child's services includes society and comfort. Pennsylvania does not recognize a separate filial consortium claim, and parents cannot recover these non-pecuniary losses from the Commonwealth under Department of Public Welfare v. Schultz.

Does it matter whether my child was a minor or an adult?

The statute covers both. Section 8301 refers to the parents of the deceased and sets no age limit, and Rettger involved a 24-year-old son. Age matters in other ways. An adult child's spouse or children can reduce or eliminate the parents' wrongful death share, and age affects any argument that the child was at fault.

What can we recover if our child was an infant?

Medical and funeral expenses, the value of the child's services including society and comfort from a private defendant, and survival damages where the facts support them. In Hatwood, the Superior Court upheld a recovery for parents of a 17-month-old and said a jury may rely on the best available evidence of family life.

Do both parents share if we are divorced or were never married?

Generally the intestacy statute gives surviving parents equal shares, and living apart does not by itself end a parent's share. Berry v. Titus allowed a divorced mother to share. A parent may lose a share through forfeiture under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2106(b) or for lack of a real family relation. A court decides these disputes.

Does a court have to approve the settlement?

Court approval is required under Pa.R.C.P. 2206(a) when a minor or incapacitated person has an interest in the wrongful death claim. When only adult parents share, that rule may not apply, but a court order designating shares under Rule 2206(b) is available and useful. Courts may also approve compromise of a survival claim under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3323(b).

How long do we have to file?

Generally two years under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, measured from the date of death for wrongful death and generally from the date of injury for the survival claim. Medical claims have their own death-based rule under MCARE. Claims against government entities can require written notice within six months. Do not count on your child's age to extend these deadlines.

Talk to a Pennsylvania Injury Lawyer About Your Case

If your child died because of a crash, a medical error, an unsafe property or someone else's negligence, you do not have to sort through this alone, and you do not have to decide anything today. When you are ready, call (717) 724-7503 or request a free case review. The conversation is confidential. You pay no attorney fee unless there is a recovery. You may be responsible for certain case costs and expenses in addition to the fee, as explained in your written fee agreement. Our Camp Hill office at 3425 Simpson Ferry Rd, Suite 100, Camp Hill, PA 17011 serves clients statewide.

This article is general information about Pennsylvania law, not legal advice for your specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Attorney advertising. Sean Quinlan, Esq., Quinlan Law Group, Camp Hill, PA.