What it means
All potential beneficiaries, including the estate, must be identified in the complaint, with their relationships alleged. Damages then depend on the class. Each survivor may recover the value of lost support and services from the date of injury to death, with interest, and future loss from the date of death, reduced to present value (subsection (1)). The surviving spouse may also recover for loss of companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering (subsection (2)). Minor children (under 25, § 768.18(2)), and all children if there is no surviving spouse, may recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering (subsection (3)).
Each parent of a deceased minor child may recover for mental pain and suffering; each parent of an adult child may do so only if there are no other survivors (subsection (4)). A survivor who paid medical or funeral expenses may recover them (subsection (5)). The personal representative may recover for the estate lost earnings from injury to death, less lost support, lost net accumulations in the cases listed, and medical or funeral expenses that became a charge against the estate (subsection (6)). Estate awards are subject to the claims of creditors who complied with probate law (subsection (7)). In medical negligence claims under § 766.106(1), subsection (3) damages are not recoverable by adult children and subsection (4) damages are not recoverable by parents of an adult child (subsection (8)).
- Each survivor may recover lost support and services, with future loss reduced to present value (§ 768.21(1)).
- The surviving spouse may also recover for loss of companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering (§ 768.21(2)).
- Minor children, and all children if there is no surviving spouse, may recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for pain and suffering (§ 768.21(3)).
- A parent of a deceased minor child may recover for mental pain and suffering; a parent of an adult child only if there are no other survivors (§ 768.21(4)).
- The estate may recover lost earnings, net accumulations in the listed cases, and medical or funeral expenses charged to it (§ 768.21(6)).
- Awards for the estate are subject to creditors' claims that comply with probate law (§ 768.21(7)); some damages in medical negligence claims are limited (§ 768.21(8)).
Text of the statute (2026)
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).
Excerpts are the subsections the summary relies on. Read the full official text of § 768.21.
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.
How it applies
Each class recovers a different set of damages, so a recovery is divided among survivors and the estate by category. Awards for the estate are subject to the claims of creditors who followed probate claim procedures (§ 768.21(7)), which makes the line between survivor damages and estate damages relevant to what creditors can reach. The verdict must state each survivor's amount and the estate's amount separately under § 768.22, and a contested apportionment can require court approval under § 768.25.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 768.21 does real work:
Questions people ask
Sources
- Fla. Stat. § 768.21 (2026) (“Each survivor may recover the value of lost support and services” Survivor damages.)
- Fla. Stat. § 768.18 (2026) (“children under 25 years of age, notwithstanding the age of majority” Definition used in subsection (3).)
- Fla. Stat. § 766.106 (2026) (“arising out of the rendering of, or the failure to render, medical care or services” Definition of medical negligence claims referenced in subsection (8).)
Last checked: October 17, 2026
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