How can I split the money we get out of my wife's medical malpractice case?

If you are unable to reach agreement with her, ask your lawyer to refer you both to a qualified mediator locally to assist you two in arriving at a fair and equitable division.

You sit down with your adult daughter and discuss it. In my opinion, the loss of a spouse is more than the loss of the mother to an adult daughter. My daughters might disagree with me, though. Perhaps 2/3 for you and 1/3 for her.

You talk with your daughter about it.

You may want to ask the attorneys to explain the factors the jury would use to award money in such a case, which differ from state to state, and you and your daughter discuss the factors and how the factors affect your particular case. For example, you may have your own independent claim for loss of consortium. If so, this part of the settlement would go exclusively to you. Determining what % should go to loss of consortium is subjective and difficult, but having such a claim would probably indicate you get more than 50%, for if you divide the wrongful death/survival action 50/50, you would still get more due to the consortium claim. Also, in SC, the wrongful death portion goes to heirs, whereas the survival action goes to the beneficiaries of the decedent's will if there is one. Thus, in some states, a will can make a difference. Finally, ask the attorney if the jury would apportion the proceeds among heirs according to their individual losses or whether the proceeds would be equally divided among heirs. If it is the latter, then the only question is how much goes to the consortium clam and how much on the survival claim if a will makes a difference. If it is the former, then you would want to negotiate with the daughter regarding which one of you suffered the most because of the death (for example, a minor daughter I think would suffer more of a loss than an adult daughter). The survival claim, by the way, is for the decedents pain and suffering, whereas the wrongful death is for the heirs' anguish, loss of companionship and services of the loved one. Thus, if death was instant, this would normally mean more should be placed on the wrongful death portion. If the descendant died a slow agonizing death, this would indicate more for the survival action. Another way would be to ignore the legal factors mentioned above, and simply negotiate over what you feel in your gut is fair. You may also be able to get your own independent attorneys and have the court apportion it if you cannot agree. However, this may cause both of you to get less and the attorneys to get more.

I'd say that the firm has a conflict of interest, at least potentially. Wrongful death cases have two components: pecuniary loss and pain and suffering. The mediation should parse all that out. Pecuniary loss means loss of financial contribution. So, your separate lawyers within that firm should each calculate what your respective financial losses are. Pain and suffering belongs to the estate. If your wife had a will, then the distribution goes to the beneficiaries according to the terms of the will. If she did not have a will, then the estate money vests according to the rules of decent and distribution in your state. Typically, everything goes to the surviving spouse.

50% to 50%, don't get greedy.

Generally the lion's share of the money paid by the defendant will be to your wife's Estate for her pain and suffering. If this is the case, then her Estate documents/plan, if any, generally control the distribution of Estate assets (of which a tort cause of action is one). If there was no conscious p&s, and any settlement $ is agreed to be going to the surviving family, then it is typical to distribute same according to the loss suffered by the respective survivors based on what their individual relationship was with the deceased. Your lawyer should be helping you talk about a reasonable way to allocate the funds as between you and your daughter. Also, if there is no agreement, and each of you wants more of the $ than the other is willing to give, then each of you needs your own independent counsel. In the final analysis, if you don't agree on a split, the attorneys will have to petition the court to have a hearing to determine what each individual's relationship was with the decedent and therefore what their respective loss was and to then rule on how any funds should be split.

Talk to your daughter and try to reach an agreement.

In Alabama, for a wrongful death case, the funds bypass the estate as if there was no will. You would get half and the other half would be split amongst the children, Equally. Good luck.

Speak with the lawyers but you have the primary loss as you lost your spouse. Your daughter is a liberated adult.