Published March 9, 2021 · For Grieving Families

When someone you love is killed by another person's crime, the bills do not wait for the criminal case. There is a funeral to pay for. There may be lost income the household depended on. Children and parents may need counseling to get through the months ahead.

Ohio has a program that can help with some of these costs: crime victims compensation, which the law calls "reparations." It is administered through the Ohio Attorney General. This article explains, in plain terms, who may apply after a death, what the program can pay, and how it fits with a civil wrongful death claim.

What counts as a crime for this program

The law uses the phrase "criminally injurious conduct." Under R.C. 2743.51(C)(1), it means conduct that poses a substantial threat of injury or death and is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or death. The definition looks at the conduct, not at whether anyone has been convicted.

Most motor vehicle crashes are excluded, with listed exceptions. They include a driver who intended to cause injury or death, a driver fleeing a felony, a driver who was under the influence (an OVI violation), conduct amounting to vehicular assault under R.C. 2903.08, and certain hit-skip crashes causing serious harm. If your loved one was killed by a drunk driver, our page on drunk driver wrongful death explains the civil side.

The crime must have been reported to law enforcement, and the program may deny or reduce an award if the victim or the family did not fully cooperate with law enforcement.

Who can apply after a death

R.C. 2743.51(A) lists the people who can be a "claimant." After a death, they include:

  • a dependent of the person who died, meaning someone wholly or partly dependent on that person for care and support, including a child born after the death;
  • a third person, such as a relative, who paid the victim's or a dependent's expenses caused by the crime, including burial expenses;
  • someone authorized to act on behalf of those people; and
  • the estate of the person who died.

There are residency and other requirements, so it is worth asking before assuming you do or do not qualify.

What the program can pay

The program pays for economic loss, not pain and suffering. Under the law as it stands, that can include:

  • Funeral expenses. Reasonable charges up to $7,500 per funeral for the funeral, cremation, or burial. Within that amount, family members' lost wages or travel to attend the funeral may be reimbursed up to $500 each.
  • Counseling for family members. When the crime was a homicide, each immediate family member who needs psychiatric care or counseling may be reimbursed up to $2,500, with a total of $7,500 for all immediate family members.
  • Medical bills for care the victim received before death.
  • Dependent's economic loss. The financial support the person who died would have provided to dependents.
  • Dependent's replacement services loss. The cost of hiring help for things the person who died would have done for the family, such as child care or household tasks.
  • Crime scene cleanup.

Total awards for all claimants arising from one victim's injury or death cannot exceed $50,000.

When to apply

Applications are filed with the Attorney General on the Attorney General's form. Under R.C. 2743.56(B), an application may be filed at any time after the crime. Even so, applying early makes it easier to gather receipts and records and may help with the most pressing costs, such as the funeral.

Reasons a claim can be denied or reduced

The law has several limits that families should know about, and they can feel unfair in a moment of grief:

  • Awards are reduced to the extent the loss is paid by another source, such as insurance, Social Security, or workers' compensation.
  • The program considers whether the victim or the claimant engaged in misconduct that contributed to the crime.
  • A victim's or claimant's felony conviction or certain other conduct within ten years before the crime can make a claim ineligible, although the law makes some exceptions for minor dependents.

If a claim is denied or the award seems too low, R.C. 2743.61 allows a request for reconsideration within 30 days of the Attorney General's decision and then an appeal to the Court of Claims. A lawyer or a victim advocate can help.

How this fits with a wrongful death claim

Crime victims compensation and a civil wrongful death claim are different things. The compensation program is a limited public fund. A wrongful death claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate against the people or businesses responsible, and it can include losses the program does not cover, such as the family's grief and the loss of companionship.

The two can work together. Families often apply for compensation early to help with immediate costs while a civil claim is investigated. If the family later recovers money from another source for the same losses, R.C. 2743.60(D) allows the Attorney General to seek repayment of the part of the award that covered those losses. That is one reason to tell your lawyer about any award you receive. Our guide chapter on liens, taxes and benefits explains how repayment claims are handled at settlement, and our chapter on criminal and civil cases explains how the two cases relate.

Sometimes the person who committed the crime has little or no insurance. Even then, a civil investigation may find others who share responsibility, such as a bar that over-served a drunk driver or a property owner who ignored a known danger.

Taking care of yourselves

The paperwork is real, but so is the grief. A victim advocate can help families understand the criminal case and the compensation program, and our chapter on caring for your family gathers practical resources.

This article is general information about Ohio law, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and rules change; talk to a lawyer about your family's situation.