In Arizona, a wrongful death jury does not apply a formula. Under A.R.S. § 12-613, the jury awards "such damages as it deems fair and just with reference to the injury resulting from the death" to the family members who are entitled to recover. That open-ended standard, combined with who is allowed to sue and how any recovery is divided, is what drives the value of a wrongful death claim.
When Arizona allows a wrongful death claim
A.R.S. § 12-611 allows a lawsuit when a person's death is caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default that would have let the injured person sue for damages had they lived. The statute applies even if the same conduct could also be treated as a crime such as manslaughter. A criminal case and a civil wrongful death case are separate proceedings.
Who files, and for whom
Under A.R.S. § 12-612, the action is brought by and in the name of the surviving spouse, child, parent, guardian, or personal representative of the person who died. It is brought for the benefit of the surviving spouse, children, or parents. If none of them survive, it is brought for the decedent's estate. A parent may sue for a child's death, and a guardian may sue for a ward's death.
Any recovery is distributed among those parties "in proportion to their damages." That wording matters for value: the total is not split evenly by default, but according to the loss each person experienced. The statute also disqualifies a person who is found guilty of, or pleads guilty or no contest to, certain homicide or child-related offenses involving the decedent; that person is treated as having died before the decedent and cannot recover.
What the jury may weigh
Section 12-613 tells the jury to look to the injury resulting from the death to the surviving parties. It also allows the jury to consider "the mitigating or aggravating circumstances attending the wrongful act, neglect or default." In practical terms, this means the facts of how the death happened can move the number up or down, not only the family's loss.
Because the standard is "fair and just" rather than a table or schedule, there is no statutory dollar figure to point to. Arizona's constitution also bars caps on damages for death or injury, as covered in our explainer on Arizona's lack of damage caps.
Two features that affect what families actually receive
First, when the action is brought on behalf of the estate, the recovery is an estate asset. Section 12-613 provides that a wrongful death recovery "shall not be subject to debts or liabilities of the deceased" except in that estate situation, so who brings the claim is not a mere formality.
Second, fault still matters. If more than one party contributed to a death, Arizona's several-only liability rule can limit what each defendant owes, as explained in our article on several-only liability.
The deadline
Wrongful death claims have a clock. Under A.R.S. § 12-542, an action for injuries done to the person of another "when death ensues from such injuries" must be started within two years, and the cause of action is treated as accruing at the death of the party injured. For more on how deadlines interact with value, see our article on Arizona's two-year filing deadline.
The takeaway
Arizona wrongful death value is built from three legal pieces: a "fair and just" jury standard, a defined list of who may sue and share, and a firm filing deadline. None of them produces a number on their own, which is why no online calculator can value an Arizona injury case and why the specifics of each family and each death matter.
This article is general legal information, not legal advice, and no article can estimate the value of a specific claim. Statute text is from the Arizona Legislature's published A.R.S. §§ 12-542, 12-611, 12-612 and 12-613.