Who is responsible for filing the actual FTCA claim

[JusticeforLt.Col.Sutton.]

On Thursday I was informed by my new legal representation for the FTCA claim that not only would I be filing out the form 95 but that they would be contacting my husbands adult children (whom I have no contact with and my husband had very little contact with) to sign a retainers contract and sign Form 95.

It is essential that the FTCA claim be correctly.  I am not sure that this above is correct. I have spent the entire weekend searching for the statue, the code, the rule, the regulation as to whom must file the FTCA claim.  Can anyone help me find this information?

 

 

[Berta]

Maybe the lawyer could give you some legal citations for that.

A lot depends on if an Estate was opened and/or if Letters of Administration were received-at least here in NY that is the way it goes.And of course a will would be involved in most estate situations.

I believe I filed SF 95 in my individual Capacity as the surviving spouse- because in NY you have to go to the Surrogate's Office and they give you a probate packet and tell you that your lawyer should fill it out.

I told the Surrogate clerk that I am a Pro Se lawyer and she Oh, ....OK you can do this yourself.

As I recall, it took some time to get all of the probate info they needed , but they approved the Application for the L O A (Letters of Administration) which I had to send to the VA.

These are questions that lawyers can answer-as I mentioned I had no lawyer for the FTCA or for anything else to do with that case.

I will try to see if I can find something to help---in the VBM, by NVLSP- the Pro Bono law firm who won Nehmer . Their limited  info on FTCA was really all I had when I SF95ed the VA. And I learned  a bit more in hours I spent at the local law library.No internet as we know it now, in those days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Berta

[Berta]

I agree with the lawyer- but I do not have any regulation etc to support that.The lawyer would have that info.

I don't know how your husband's death went through probate-by will, Estate, or LOA, and we don't need to know because the lawyer would need to know.

Part of my Probate involved the fact that my husband only had one minor child, my daughter,   when he died.

I had to gather a lot of personal info, fill out forms, etc etc and get some of it Notarized , the same way a lawyer would have done it.

They need to know any and all potential beneficiaries.

My FTCA situation was vastly different from yours. And it was long ago, and in a different state.

I am glad you got a lawyer- after 20 NY lawyers told me I would never succeed, I filed SF 95 and collected the evidence  myself.

But I had numerous serious problems with my RO, that would have been prevented if I had a lawyer.

VA Regional Counsel wanted to settle with me in May 1995 (he got the SF 95 in Jan or Feb 1995) as he had a Peer review done right away, based on my medical evidence, that fully supported my charges) and then suddenly the RC, the Peer doctor, and the report he did mysteriously disappeared and I had to start all over again at the OGC in DC.It then took until 1997 for settlement.I found the RC, and the Peer doctor about a year later who were stunned ( they had left the VA) that my case had still not been resolved.I found the Peer Report as well, 8 years later and used it for my AO IHD claim.

I do not advise anyone doing a FTCA wrongful death case themself.