Claiming asbestos disease compensation for the death of a family member

If you have a family member who has passed away from an asbestos-related disease, you can claim compensation on their behalf.

Making an asbestos claim after a death can help your family cope with the financial costs of losing a loved one.

It also ensures that those responsible for exposing your family member to deadly asbestos are held to account. At this devastating time, many families are comforted by getting some form of justice for their beloved family member.

In this guide, we will explain the process for claiming asbestos compensation after the death of a family member.

The devastating legacy of asbestos in the UK

The use of asbestos may now be banned in the UK, but it still has a devastating impact on families today.

According to research from the Health and Safety Executive, there are over 5,000 asbestos-related deaths every year in the UK. Almost half of those who die from asbestos-related diseases will have suffered from mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Asbestos-related lung cancer is thought to be responsible for the majority of the remaining deaths. Asbestos is one of the most common causes of lung cancer, behind smoking. Asbestos-related deaths can also be caused by other conditions, such as asbestosis.

Nothing can ever compensate for the loss of a beloved spouse, parent, or sibling. However, with asbestos still devastating thousands of lives today, it is only right that those who negligently exposed people to asbestos are held to account for the pain and suffering they have caused.

Asbestos claims after death

If you have a loved one who has passed away due to an asbestos-related disease, you can make a claim for compensation on their behalf.

There are many reasons why your loved one may not have begun their own claim for asbestos exposure before passing away - for example:

• Asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma are often debilitating, so sufferers can sadly be too ill to think about making a claim.
• The fact that asbestos-related diseases usually develop decades after exposure can also discourage people from claiming. Many people  worry that exposure occurred too long ago to make a claim.
• Other people mistakenly believe that they are unable to seek compensation because the companies that exposed them to asbestos are no longer trading.
• Due to the length of time between exposure and diagnosis, some sufferers do not make the connection between their disease and where they were exposed to asbestos.

However, with specialist advice, these issues can be overcome, and financial support secured.

If you have lost a loved one from an asbestos-related disease in the last three years, it is not too late to claim. Here is what you need to know about starting an asbestos compensation claim for a family member.

Identifying where your loved one was exposed to asbestos

Contact with asbestos is most likely to have occurred at a workplace, so knowing your loved one’s employment history can be helpful when making a claim.

But if you don’t know where your loved one used to work, don’t worry – we can help.

Our expert asbestos teams have a wealth of experience when it comes to building a complete employment history of those suffering from asbestos diseases.  Our specialist asbestos solicitors can help you track down previous employers and hold them accountable, even if the company they worked for is no longer operating. We use national insurance records to trace your loved one’s former employers, and comb through Employment Liability Tracing Office data to find the former employers’ insurers.

We also have a unique database of witnesses who have indicated their willingness to speak out in support of others exposed to asbestos. We can draw on this database to find evidence of asbestos exposure in numerous workplaces across the UK.

If your loved one never worked, you still may be able to make a claim. While asbestos exposure most commonly occurred in the workplace, it is not the only place where your family member could have come into contact with the dangerous substance.

For instance, we have helped bring claims for people who were exposed to asbestos when their family member brought it home on their work clothes. We have also secured compensation for those who were exposed at school, or while playing near buildings containing asbestos as children.

Our asbestos solicitors will use all the resources at our disposal to help you identify where your family member was exposed, whether that was in or out of work.

We see difficult cases as a challenge. We brought the first ever asbestos claim in 1972, and we have been helping families bring asbestos claims ever since. We have been involved in every test case, and use our considerable experience in every claim we take on.

Building a picture of your family member

When making an asbestos compensation claim it is important to have as much information as possible about the person who suffered from the disease.

We speak with family members, former work colleagues and review medical records to create a picture of the deceased, their history of asbestos exposure and the impact that asbestos disease had upon them and their family. We work with leading specialist medical experts who will build a picture of how the asbestos-related disease affected your loved one to support your claim for compensation.

We also offer experienced support by helping with the coroner’s inquest, which we know can be a distressing time for the family.

Leonard, whose wife passed away after being exposed to asbestos

Local support groups

We can also put you in contact with local asbestos support groups. These groups are members of the Forum of Asbestos Victims Support Groups and are recognised charities working to support families affected by asbestos-related disease.

They can offer specialist benefits advice, bereavement support and access to information about asbestos-related diseases which you may find helpful. They also offer a community of people who have been on the same journey and are ready and willing to offer whatever support you may find you need, either immediately or in the future.

We also work closely with national charity, Mesothelioma UK, which can also offer information and support about asbestos-related diseases and related issues.

Of course, nothing can mitigate the emotional devastation caused by losing a loved one. However, when the family is ready, our specialists are here to help you make a claim for compensation.

Time limits for making an asbestos claim after death

Following the death of a loved one, you have three years to bring an asbestos claim.

We always recommend that families get in touch with us as soon as possible, so that we can begin the process of pinpointing where your loved one was exposed to asbestos and tracking down the insurers of those responsible.

If you have lost a family member to an asbestos-related disease, request a call back to discuss your case with one of our asbestos specialists.