Fatal Accident Dependency Damages Expert Witness | FAA 1976

Claims under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 compensate dependants for the financial benefit they would have received from the deceased had the death not been caused by the wrong. A damages expert witness calculates financial dependency as the deceased's net income less personal expenditure - the proportion of earnings that would have been applied for the benefit of the household. Services dependency covers gratuitous care and domestic services the deceased provided, valued by reference to commercial replacement rates.

The annual dependency figure is capitalised using the Ogden multiplier from the date of death, with adjustments for the dependant's own life expectancy, remarriage contingencies, and shared household economies where multiple dependants claim. The statutory bereavement award under section 1A FAA 1976 is fixed by Parliament and does not require expert quantification, but must be identified separately in the Schedule of Loss. Interest on past dependency and special damages follows established High Court practice.

Dependants include spouses, civil partners, children, parents, and co-habitees who lived with the deceased as husband or wife for at least two years before death under section 1(3)(b). Expert evidence addresses the deceased's pre-death earnings trajectory, pension entitlements, and any future income the dependant would have received from the deceased's estate or employment benefits. Reports comply with CPR Part 35 and integrate with bereavement and funeral expense heads instructed by the legal team.

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