Here’s What to Do If Someone You Know Was in a Recent Fatal Car Accident

Over a million people die in car accidents each year. When it is someone you love in a recent fatal car accident, your whole world stops spinning.

You’re thinking about yourself, their other loved ones and how it is going to be without them. Grieving sudden death is never easy but there are some things you can do to make the process less painful.

If you need help working through grief after a fatal car accident, continue reading this article to learn more.

Coping With a Death After a Recent Fatal Car Accident

When you feel like your life has come to a halt after a recent car accident, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue a settlement in case of wrongful death. If someone has taken your loved one from you before their time, a lawsuit may be in order.

Whether you’re going after a car accident settlement or not, the following information will help you as you’re grieving the loss of a loved one.

The Legal Process of Getting a Car Accident Settlement

If you already know you need to file a claim for a car accident settlement, you need to get started as soon as possible. You only have 2 years from the date of the car accident to file your claim or if the date of death is different than the date of the car accident — it is from the date of death.

Before you start working on your claim, make sure to organize your evidence. You should have police reports, photos, witness testimony and any other evidence that is relevant to the case.

If you are working with an attorney, you should hand this information over to them and ask about anything else they might need.

A big part of determining how much money you’ll get out of a settlement is related to pain and suffering. The more pain and suffering you experience, the more compensation you receive in most cases.

Many times car accident settlement cases never make it to court because the other side opts for an out of court settlement. Consult with your attorney to see if you should continue to pursue the court case or take the settlement.

The following information will help you understand grief. You can use this information to help yourself through the process but you can also use the information to prove the negative impact this loss has had on your quality of life.

What Is Grief?

If you don’t consider yourself an “emotional person,” you might not think that you’ll experience grief. Grief is a natural response to a loss and you shouldn’t feel bad if you start to experience it.

Grief can put your life into a state of upheaval and it is important that you understand what is going on so you can make it through this part of your life.

What Are the Stages of Grief?

While there are stages of grief, you should know that everyone experiences grief differently. Some of the stages you see might not come in order and you might go back through these stages at any time.

The way you grieve has a lot to do with your personality, any religious beliefs, your life experience, your relationship with the person you’ve lost and more.

The feeling of healing happens gradually so don’t rush yourself to heal. You also shouldn’t feel bad if you heal faster than most people. The length of time you are sad after someone dies is not a measure of your love for that person.

Here are the stages of grief:

• Denial
• Anger
• Bargaining
• Depression
• Acceptance

Even if you don’t go through all of the stages of grief, that doesn’t mean you aren’t grieving. These are just guidelines that help us understand what we’re going through and try to help us understand those going through loss around us.

If you hope grief is going to be a neat and orderly process, you should know that isn’t the case. You’ll likely experience a rollercoaster of feelings.

Emotional Symptoms of Grief

If you’re not sure if you or someone you love are going through grief, you can look at some of the emotional symptoms for help understanding what is going on.

Shock and disbelief are two of the most common emotional symptoms of grief. It can be hard to believe that you’re going through this extreme pain. You may still be looking for the person you love to show up for their normal routine but it simply hasn’t happened.

Sadness can wash over you at any time and cause you to cry or even put you into a mental breakdown. If you feel emotionally unstable — know this is perfectly normal.

Guilt is another overwhelming emotional symptom that you are experiencing grief. No matter how well your relationship was going with this person, you likely have something you regret doing or not doing while that person was still alive.

Anger can flame up like a fire without warning. It’s not uncommon to lash out at people that haven’t done anything wrong to you.

Fear is another sign that you’re going through emotional symptoms of grief. You might be afraid to lose more people that you care about.

Work Through Your Pain

One of the things we often think is that if we ignore the pain, it is going to go away. Ignoring the pain isn’t doing us any favors and can cause the grieving process to last even longer.

Stay Connected

Withdrawing from life and everything and everyone that reminds you of the person you’ve lost will hurt you more than help you. Staying connected to people that are also grieving the loss can help you through this hard time.

Plan a Memorial

You may want to get through this time as quickly as possible but taking the time to have a memorial will help you as you’re grieving. Even if you don’t want to do something big, you should have some sort of memorial that will allow you to cry, be happy and remember the person you lost.

Use the Decreased’s Name

Don’t try to keep from saying the name of the person you lost. Talking about them and sharing stories about their life will help you grieve.

Living Your Best Life

Even though a recent fatal car accident has taken someone that you love, you have to continue to live your best life. Use the information above to start your recovery process and start living life again.

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