Wrongful Death in Ontario: Who Can Sue and What the Family Law Act Allows

Losing someone you love because another person was careless is a kind of pain the law can never truly repair. No court order brings a parent, a child, or a partner back, and no cheque measures what a family has lost. What the law can do is different, and it still matters. It can recognize the loss, hold the responsible party accountable, and provide financial support to the people who are left behind. That is what a wrongful death claim in Ontario is for.

This guide is written for families, not for lawyers, and we have tried to keep it gentle and clear. If you are reading this in the first raw weeks after a death, please know that nothing here is urgent to decide today. The one thing worth doing early is talking to someone, because deadlines and evidence do quietly slip away, and a short conversation can protect the family's options while you grieve.

Here is the part that surprises almost everyone. Ontario does not have a law called the "Wrongful Death Act." Instead, the right of a family to claim for a death runs mainly through one section of the Family Law Act, section 61. That single section decides who can sue, what they can claim, and, in a car accident, how much is quietly taken off the top. This article explains all of it in plain language: who is on the list of people allowed to claim, the specific losses the Family Law Act allows, what those claims are actually worth in Ontario courts, the deductible that applies in auto cases, and the deadlines that can end a claim before it starts.

Because the dollar figures in auto cases change every January, we have used the 2026 amounts published by the regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. If you want to understand the related rules that shape a car accident claim, our guide to Ontario's injury threshold and deductible is a useful companion.

This article is general information about Ontario law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not make us your lawyers. Every claim turns on its own facts and its own evidence, and the dollar figures change every year. If your family has lost someone, please speak with a Toronto personal injury lawyer who can look at your situation with care and tell you where you stand.

What is a wrongful death claim in Ontario?

A wrongful death claim in Ontario is a civil lawsuit brought by family members after a person dies because of someone else's fault or neglect. It is not a criminal case, and it does not depend on anyone being charged or convicted. It is a claim for money, brought in the civil courts, by the people the law says are close enough to the person who died to have suffered a real loss. A wrongful death lawyer in Toronto can tell a family whether they are among them.

Because Ontario has no standalone wrongful death statute, these claims are built on two separate legal foundations that work side by side.

The first, and the one this guide focuses on, is the family's own claim under section 61 of the Family Law Act. This is the claim by the spouse, children, parents, and other listed relatives for their own losses flowing from the death. It is sometimes called a Family Law Act claim, an FLA claim, or a dependant's claim.

The second is the estate's claim, brought under section 38 of the Trustee Act. This is called a survival action, because it lets the estate carry on the claim the deceased person could have brought if they had lived, for losses the deceased suffered before death, such as their own pain and suffering between the injury and death, and income lost in that period. The estate's claim and the family's claim are usually brought together in one lawsuit, but they compensate different people for different things.

The important point for grieving families is this. When you hear "wrongful death," think of a package of claims, not a single cause of action. The family members recover their losses through the Family Law Act. The estate recovers the deceased's own pre death losses through the Trustee Act. Both can proceed against the same at fault party, in the same action.

Why does the Family Law Act matter so much for grieving families?

It matters because section 61 is the door. If you are not on the list of people it names, you generally cannot bring a family member's claim at all, no matter how much you loved the person who died. And if you are on the list, section 61 controls what you can ask for and, in a car accident, how much the law lets you keep.

Families are often blindsided by a few features of the system, and it is better to hear them here than from an insurer.

First, the list of who can sue is specific. It is generous, but it has edges, and people who feel like family are sometimes left off it.

Second, the most human part of the loss, the loss of a person's guidance, care, and companionship, has historically been valued modestly by Ontario courts compared with what many families expect. Awards have grown, but the numbers can still feel small against the size of the loss.

Third, if the death happened in a motor vehicle accident, a statutory deductible quietly removes a fixed amount from the family's non financial award, the same way the deductible works in an ordinary injury claim. In 2026 that deductible is $23,956.52 for each family member's claim.

Fourth, there are deadlines, and at least one of them is shorter and stricter than most people assume.

None of this should discourage a family. It is the opposite. Knowing how the rules work is exactly how a family avoids leaving money, and accountability, on the table. The rest of this guide walks through each piece.

Who can sue for wrongful death in Ontario?

This is usually the first question families ask, and section 61(1) of the Family Law Act answers it with a defined list. The people entitled to bring a claim are:

• the spouse of the person who was killed or injured,
• the children,
• the grandchildren,
• the parents,
• the grandparents, and
• the brothers and sisters (siblings).

If you fall within one of those categories, you may claim your own losses resulting from the death. If you do not, you generally cannot bring a Family Law Act claim, although the estate's separate claim may still capture some losses.

Two features of this list catch people off guard, and both are worth understanding.

The Family Law Act definition of "spouse" is broader than many expect

For a section 61 claim, "spouse" is defined by reference to Part III of the Family Law Act, the support obligations part. That definition is broader than the married only definition used for dividing property. It includes married spouses, and it also includes two people who are not married to each other but who have lived together continuously for at least three years, or who live together in a relationship of some permanence and are the parents of a child.

In plain terms, a common law partner can bring a wrongful death claim in Ontario, if the relationship meets that description. This is important, because grieving partners are sometimes wrongly told they have no claim simply because there was no marriage certificate. That is not the law for a Family Law Act dependant's claim.

Being on the list is not automatic proof of a large loss

Section 61 says who is entitled to claim. It does not say every claimant recovers the same amount, or even a large amount. A grandchild who was raised by a grandparent may have a substantial claim for the loss of guidance and care. A sibling who lived across the country and spoke to the deceased twice a year may have a modest one. The category gets you through the door. The size of the claim depends on the real relationship, which the court examines closely.

Here is the list in table form, with the kind of loss each family member typically advances.

Two more points round out the "who" question. The estate, through the estate trustee, brings the separate Trustee Act survival claim we described above, so the deceased's own pre death losses are not lost just because the person has died. And a family member's Family Law Act claim is derivative, meaning it depends on the person who died having had a valid claim against the wrongdoer. If the deceased could not have sued, for example because no one else was at fault, the family's claim generally cannot succeed either.

What does the Family Law Act allow a family to claim?

Once you know you are entitled to sue, the next question is what you can ask for. Section 61(2) of the Family Law Act sets out the specific heads of loss. The section says the recoverable damages "may include" the following.

• Actual expenses reasonably incurred for the benefit of the person who was injured or killed. This covers out of pocket costs spent trying to help or care for the person.
• Funeral expenses reasonably incurred. The reasonable cost of the funeral and burial or cremation.
• Travel expenses actually incurred in visiting the person during treatment or recovery. If the person survived for a period and family travelled to be with them, that cost can be claimed.
• A reasonable allowance for the value of services, where a family member gave up income or provided nursing, housekeeping, or other services because of the injury.
• Loss of guidance, care, and companionship that the family member might reasonably have expected to receive from the person if the death had not happened.

Beyond that list, section 61(1) also allows family members to recover their broader pecuniary loss resulting from the death. In a case where the person who died supported the family financially, this is often the largest part of the claim. It is usually described as loss of dependency, and it has two main parts:

• Loss of financial support, meaning the income and support the deceased would have provided to the family over the years to come, and
• Loss of household services, meaning the value of the practical work the deceased did for the family, such as childcare, cooking, home maintenance, and caregiving, which now has to be paid for or absorbed by others.

The table below groups the heads into the human losses and the financial losses, because families tend to think about them that way.

Notice that all of these compensate the family for their losses. None of them is a payment for the death itself, and none of them puts a price on the person's life. The law does not pretend to do that. It compensates the measurable and the meaningful losses the survivors carry.

What is a wrongful death claim worth in Ontario?

There is no simple answer, and any lawyer who gives you a confident number at a first meeting should be treated with caution. The value depends on the relationship, the age and role of the person who died, whether the family relied on them financially, and the strength of the evidence. But the law has clear landmarks, and the most important one is this.

There is no cap on damages for loss of guidance, care, and companionship in Ontario. For an injured living person, the amount that can be awarded for pain and suffering is limited by a cap set by the Supreme Court of Canada, which sits at roughly $465,000 to $470,000 in current dollars. That cap does not apply to a family's loss of guidance, care, and companionship claim. Ontario's Court of Appeal has confirmed that these awards are not subject to that ceiling.

That does not mean awards are unlimited in practice. For many years the awards were, by design, quite conservative. Two Court of Appeal decisions mark the range families should understand.

The traditional benchmark: To v. Toronto Board of Education

For two decades, the leading reference point was To v. Toronto (City) Board of Education, 2001 CanLII 11304 (ON CA). A young boy died in a school accident, and his parents brought a Family Law Act claim. A jury awarded each parent an amount at the $100,000 level for the loss of their son's guidance, care, and companionship. The Court of Appeal upheld the award, while describing it as being at the high end of the range for that kind of loss at the time.

For years after, $100,000 per family member was treated, informally, as close to the top of what an Ontario court would award for this head, even in the most tragic cases. It was never a legislated cap. It was a benchmark that reflected how conservatively the courts had traditionally valued this loss.

The modern high water mark: Moore v. 7595611 Canada Corp.

That benchmark was decisively broken in Moore v. 7595611 Canada Corp., 2021 ONCA 459. The case arose from the death of a young woman in a fire in a rented basement unit, caused by the negligence of those responsible for the property. Her parents brought Family Law Act claims. A jury awarded each parent $250,000 for the loss of their daughter's guidance, care, and companionship, and a further $250,000 to each parent for their own mental distress, along with amounts for future care costs.

The defendant appealed, arguing the awards were excessive and that a firm upper limit should apply. The Court of Appeal disagreed. It upheld the awards and confirmed that there is no cap on damages for loss of guidance, care, and companionship. The court accepted that the amounts were high, but held they were not so inordinately high, given the devastating circumstances, that an appeal court should interfere with what the jury decided.

Moore is the modern high water mark. It tells families and insurers that in the right case, with the right evidence, an Ontario court will uphold a $250,000 award per parent for this head of loss, and more once the family's own psychological injuries are added.

Putting the range together

A realistic picture sits between those markers. The very highest awards, at the Moore level, are reserved for the closest relationships and the most tragic facts, usually a parent and child or a spouse. Many claims, particularly for adult siblings or more distant relationships, are valued well below the To benchmark. The point is not that every family recovers $250,000. The point is that the ceiling families were told about for years no longer exists, and a strong claim, well proven, is worth far more than insurers often first suggest.

Remember too that the loss of guidance, care, and companionship is only one head. Where the person who died supported a family, the loss of financial dependency and household services can dwarf it. A young parent's death can produce a dependency claim in the hundreds of thousands or more, entirely separate from the guidance and companionship figure.

How does the deductible work in a car accident wrongful death claim?

If your loved one died in a motor vehicle accident, an extra rule applies that does not apply to other kinds of wrongful death. The same Insurance Act system that reduces an injured person's pain and suffering award also reduces a family member's Family Law Act claim, through a separate, smaller deductible.

Under section 267.5 of the Insurance Act and its regulation, O. Reg. 461/96, a family member's award for loss of guidance, care, and companionship in an auto case is reduced by a fixed deductible. And, as with the personal deductible, that deductible disappears entirely once the award is large enough. Here are the 2026 figures.

So in a car accident case in 2026, if a family member's loss of guidance, care, and companionship is valued at $23,956.52 or less, the deductible swallows the whole award and they receive nothing for that head. If it is valued between the deductible and $79,853.70, the deductible is subtracted. And if it is valued above $79,853.70, the deductible vanishes and the family member keeps the full amount.

Two pieces of good news soften this for grieving families.

First, the injury threshold, the separate legal gate that blocks pain and suffering awards for injuries that are not permanent and serious, is automatically met in a death case. Death is one of the qualifying descriptions in the Insurance Act, so a family in a fatal crash never has to fight over whether the threshold is passed. It is.

Second, the deductible applies only to the non financial head, the loss of guidance, care, and companionship. It does not reduce the family's claim for loss of financial support, funeral expenses, or the value of lost services. Those pecuniary losses come through in full, subject to proof.

A worked example in a car accident case

Suppose a mother and father each have a loss of guidance, care, and companionship claim valued at $75,000 after the death of their adult child in a crash. Because $75,000 is below the $79,853.70 line, the 2026 deductible applies to each parent's claim:

$75,000 minus $23,956.52 equals $51,043.48 kept by each parent for that head.

Now suppose the evidence supports a value of $90,000 for each parent instead. Because $90,000 is above $79,853.70, the deductible disappears, and each parent keeps the full $90,000. The table below shows the effect across a range of values.

Look at the jump between the last two rows. Pushing the value of the claim from just below the line to above it is worth far more than the difference in the headline number, because the entire deductible turns off. This is one reason experienced counsel work hard to build the evidence that supports a full value for the loss, and why an early, low settlement offer in a fatal crash can be worth much less than it appears.

When does the deductible not apply?

This is where the way a death happened changes the size of what a family keeps, and it surprises people. The Family Law Act deductible is an Insurance Act rule for automobile accidents only. It does not apply to wrongful death claims that have nothing to do with a car.

If your loved one died in a workplace incident that goes to the courts, a fire, a slip and fall on dangerous property, a defective product, an assault, or medical negligence, there is no statutory deductible on the family's loss of guidance, care, and companionship. The family keeps the full award the court assesses. The Moore case is a clear example: it arose from a fatal fire in a rental unit, an occupiers' liability and negligence claim, not a car accident, so no deductible reduced the parents' awards.

That produces a stark contrast. The very same loss, the death of the same person, can be worth tens of thousands of dollars more to a family depending only on whether a motor vehicle was involved.

If you are unsure which rules apply to your situation, this is exactly the kind of thing a lawyer sorts out at a first meeting. Our guide to slip and fall and premises liability in Ontario explains how claims work when a death or injury happens on someone's property rather than on the road.

How is loss of guidance, care, and companionship actually assessed?

Because there is no formula and no cap, courts assess this head by looking closely at the real relationship between the family member and the person who died. Juries are given very little numerical guidance and are asked to arrive at a figure that is fair and reasonable, and appeal courts, as To and Moore show, will only interfere if the number is inordinately high or shockingly low.

In practice, the factors that move the value up or down include:

• The closeness of the relationship. Daily involvement, shared living, and emotional reliance point to a larger award. Distance and infrequent contact point to a smaller one.
• The role the person played. A parent of young children, a caregiving spouse, or a grandparent who helped raise a grandchild provided guidance and care that the family will genuinely miss and, in some cases, have to replace.
• The age and stage of life. The loss of a young parent with decades of guidance ahead is valued differently from other losses. Every stage carries its own kind of loss.
• The particular facts of the family. Courts look at the specific evidence of what this person meant to this family, not at averages.

The evidence that carries these claims is human, not technical. It is the testimony of family members, letters, photographs, and the accounts of people who saw the relationship up close. Because the claim is about a relationship, the proof is about the relationship. That is often painful for families to assemble, and a compassionate lawyer handles it with that in mind.

Illustrative examples

The following are illustrations only. They are not real clients, and they are not predictions about any particular case. They are here to show how the pieces fit together in different situations.

A young mother killed in a crash (a large dependency claim). A 34 year old mother of two young children is killed by an impaired driver. Her spouse and children bring Family Law Act claims. The loss of guidance, care, and companionship for the spouse and each child is significant, but the largest part of the claim is the loss of dependency: the years of income she would have earned, and the daily value of the childcare, cooking, and home management she provided. Because it is an auto case, the deductible applies to each claimant's guidance and companionship figure, but not to the much larger dependency and services claim.

Elderly parents who lose an adult child in a fire (the Moore situation). A couple in their sixties lose their only child, an adult daughter, in a preventable fire in a rental unit. There is little financial dependency, because the daughter did not support them. But the loss of her care, companionship, and the support they expected in their later years is profound. Because the death did not involve a car, no deductible applies, and, as Moore shows, the loss of guidance, care, and companionship awards can be substantial, with additional damages if the parents suffer diagnosed psychological injuries.

An adult sibling across the country (a modest claim). A man's brother dies in a workplace incident. They were close as children but had drifted, speaking a few times a year and living in different provinces. He is entitled to bring a Family Law Act claim as a sibling, and there is no deductible because it is not an auto case, but the value of his loss of companionship is modest compared with that of a spouse or dependent child. The category admits him. The evidence sets the amount.

A common law partner told he has no claim (he does). A woman dies in a car accident. She and her partner had lived together for eleven years and were raising a child together, but they never married. An insurer's adjuster suggests he has no claim because they were not married. That is wrong. As a qualifying spouse under the Family Law Act, he can claim loss of companionship and loss of dependency, subject to the auto deductible on the companionship figure.

What can a family still recover, and what the death benefit does not touch

Families sometimes fear that the deductible, or a modest companionship figure, means there is little worth pursuing. That is usually not the case. Several parts of a wrongful death claim are untouched by the deductible, and one important benefit sits entirely outside the lawsuit.

Loss of financial dependency is recovered in full. The deductible does not reduce the family's claim for the income and support the person would have provided. Where the deceased was a breadwinner, this is frequently the largest head of all.

Loss of household services is recovered in full. The practical work the person did, childcare, home maintenance, caregiving, has real value, and the family can recover the cost of replacing it. The deductible does not apply.

Funeral and related expenses are recovered. Reasonable funeral costs and the pre death care and travel expenses in section 61(2) are claimable.

The estate's survival claim is separate. Through the Trustee Act, the estate can pursue the deceased's own losses before death, including their conscious pain and suffering in the period between the injury and death, and income lost in that time. This is separate from, and additional to, the family's claims.

The accident benefits death benefit is separate again. In a motor vehicle accident, Ontario's no fault accident benefits system pays a modest death benefit directly to certain family members, regardless of who was at fault, and it is completely separate from the Family Law Act lawsuit. Under the current standard coverage, that benefit is $25,000 to a surviving spouse, $10,000 to each surviving dependant, and up to $6,000 toward funeral expenses. These amounts are not reduced by the tort deductible, and they do not reduce the family's court claim against the at fault party. They come first and separately. Note that for accidents on or after July 1, 2026, some accident benefits became optional depending on the policy, a shift explained in our guide to Ontario's 2026 accident benefits changes.

The Family Law Act claim compared with the accident benefits death benefit

Because both involve money paid after a death in a car accident, families frequently confuse the Family Law Act claim with the accident benefits death benefit. They are entirely different, and understanding the difference prevents a family from settling one and forgetting the other.

The two are cumulative. A family can, and usually should, pursue both. The death benefit is a modest, quick, no fault payment. The Family Law Act claim is the larger, fault based claim that reflects the true scale of the loss.

What are the deadlines for a wrongful death claim in Ontario?

Deadlines are the single most important reason to get advice early, even when a family is not ready to make any decisions. Missing a limitation period can end a claim permanently, no matter how strong it is.

The basic limitation period is two years. Under the Limitations Act, 2002, most civil claims must be started within two years of the day the claim was discovered. In many wrongful death cases the clock starts on the date of death, but discoverability can move that date, for example where the cause of death or the identity of the responsible party was not known right away.

The estate's survival claim has its own two year rule. The Trustee Act provides that a survival action by or against an estate must be brought within two years of the death. This one is often described as stricter, so the estate's claim should never be left to the last minute.

Auto cases carry short notice deadlines. A death in a motor vehicle accident triggers early notice obligations for accident benefits, measured in days rather than years, and there are notice requirements for certain kinds of defendants, such as municipalities in a road maintenance case. These come long before the two year limitation. Our guide to how long you have to sue after a car accident in Ontario explains how these shorter clocks work.

Because more than one clock can run at the same time, and because some are shorter and harsher than others, the safe course is simple: speak with a lawyer well before any anniversary of the death.

What if the person who died was partly at fault?

Families often worry that a claim is hopeless if their loved one was partly to blame, for example if the person who died was speeding, or was a passenger who chose to ride with an impaired driver. Ontario law does not treat that as all or nothing.

Section 61(3) of the Family Law Act says the family's damages are subject to any reduction for the fault or neglect of the person who died. In practice, this means the court works out the percentage of responsibility that belongs to the deceased and reduces the family's award by that share. If a court finds the deceased was 25 percent responsible, the family's award is reduced by 25 percent, not eliminated.

So partial fault reduces a claim, it does not end it. The only situation in which the family's Family Law Act claim fails entirely on this ground is where the person who died was wholly responsible, because then there is no wrongdoer to hold accountable. Anything short of that leaves a claim to be valued and reduced, not thrown out.

How can a family protect a wrongful death claim?

There is nothing a grieving family should feel pressured to do in the earliest days. But a few practical steps protect the family's options, and most of them are gentle.

• Keep the documents. Funeral and burial receipts, medical and hospital records, the police or coroner's reports if you have them, and anything that shows expenses the family has paid. You do not have to organize them. Just keep them.
• Preserve evidence of the cause. In a workplace, product, or premises death, the physical scene and equipment can matter. A lawyer can send preservation requests early so that important evidence is not lost or repaired away.
• Be careful with insurers and early offers. Adjusters may contact the family quickly. You are not obliged to give a recorded statement, and you should be cautious about signing anything or accepting an early figure before the full claim is understood. Our guide on whether to accept a first insurance offer explains why early offers are often low.
• Identify all the claimants. Because section 61 lists several categories, it is worth making sure every eligible family member is considered, so that no one's claim is accidentally left out of the action.
• Get advice before a deadline, not after. A single early conversation lets a lawyer note the limitation dates and protect the claim while the family takes the time it needs.

None of this changes the loss. It simply keeps the door that section 61 opens from quietly closing.

How VC Lawyers can help

Handling a wrongful death claim is as much about compassion as it is about law. At VC Lawyers, we help Ontario families understand who is entitled to claim under the Family Law Act, we value the loss of guidance, care, and companionship realistically in light of cases like To and Moore, and we build the loss of dependency and services claims that are so often the largest part of the case. In car accident deaths, we account for the deductible and pursue the separate accident benefits death benefit so that nothing is left behind. We also watch the deadlines, including the shorter ones, so a family never loses a claim to the calendar.

We work on a contingency fee basis for personal injury clients, which means no fees unless we recover for you, and the first consultation is free. If your family has lost someone because of another party's carelessness, please reach out when you are ready. Contact VC Lawyers for a free, private consultation with a Toronto personal injury lawyer.

This article is general information about Ontario law. It is not legal advice, and it does not create a lawyer and client relationship. Every claim turns on its own facts and evidence, and the dollar figures change every year. For advice about your family's situation, please speak with a lawyer.

Key terms explained

• Wrongful death claim. A civil claim brought by family members, and by the estate, after a person dies because of another party's fault or neglect. In Ontario it is built on the Family Law Act and the Trustee Act rather than a single wrongful death statute.
• Family Law Act claim. The family members' own claim under section 61 of the Family Law Act for the losses they suffer because of the death or injury of a close relative. Also called an FLA claim or a dependant's claim.
• Loss of guidance, care, and companionship. The head of damages that compensates a family member for the value of the relationship itself, the emotional support and practical help the person provided. It has no cap in Ontario.
• Loss of dependency. The pecuniary claim for the financial support and household services the person who died would have provided to the family over time. Often the largest head where the deceased supported the family.
• Pecuniary and non pecuniary damages. Pecuniary damages are measurable financial losses, such as lost support and services. Non pecuniary damages, such as loss of guidance, care, and companionship, compensate for losses that have no market price.
• Survival action. The estate's claim under section 38 of the Trustee Act for the deceased person's own losses before death, such as their conscious pain and suffering and income lost between the injury and death.
• Estate trustee. The person, formerly called an executor or administrator, who is responsible for the deceased's estate and who brings the survival action on the estate's behalf.
• Statutory deductible. In auto cases, a fixed amount subtracted from a family member's loss of guidance, care, and companionship award, $23,956.52 in 2026, which disappears once the award exceeds $79,853.70.
• Contributory negligence. A reduction in the family's award to reflect the share of fault, if any, that belonged to the person who died, under section 61(3) of the Family Law Act.
• Limitation period. The deadline for starting a claim. The general period is two years, and the estate's survival claim has its own two year period running from the death.
• Spouse (Family Law Act). For a section 61 claim, includes married spouses and qualifying common law partners who cohabited for at least three years or who are the parents of a child in a relationship of some permanence.
• Accident benefits death benefit. A fixed, no fault payment from the accident benefits insurer after a fatal car accident, separate from the Family Law Act lawsuit.