Can adult children recover damages for parental companionship and pain and suffering of their parent when their parent is killed as the result of negligence?

Yes, but only if the deceased parent does not have a surviving spouse. The Florida Wrongful Death Act states that damages for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury, awardable to the decedent's children are only recoverable by adult children if the decedent does not have a surviving spouse. Also, as it applies to pain and suffering recoverable by the decedent's children, if both spouses die within 30 days of one another as a result of the same wrongful act or series of acts arising out of the same incident, each spouse is considered to have been predeceased by the other. In conclusion, the adult children of a decedent can recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury, only if the deceased parent has no surviving spouse.

Example: John is 48 and has a father, Bill, is 72 and married. John's father is killed in a car accident when a truck crashed into his car. John may not recover damages for pain and suffering arising from his father's, Bill, death.

Example: John is 48 and his father Bill is riding with his mother Mary when their auto is wrecked by another car. Bill dies at the scene of the accident, and John's father Mary dies 3 days later. John can only recover damages for pain and suffering for the loss of his mother, Mary, but not his father.