Opinion ID: 1774420
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: LimitationsWrongful Death

Text: A person must bring suit not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues in an action for injury resulting in death. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE § 16.003(b). As we have explained, section 1.91(b) sets the time limit in which a proceeding to prove an informal marriage must be brought. Thus, for the same reasons discussed above, section 1.91(b) does not supplant or conflict with the two-year statute in section 16.003(b). It is undisputed that Mrs. Fuentes and Mr. Fuentes were never formally married and never filed a declaration of informal marriage. Thus, the only way Mrs. Fuentes could assert standing to bring this suit under the Wrongful Death Act is if she proved she was Mr. Fuentes's common-law surviving spouse. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE § 71.004(a). Mrs. Fuentes had to initiate a proceeding to prove that she was Mr. Fuentes's common-law surviving spouse within one year of his death. See TEX. FAM.CODE § 1.91. However, Mrs. Fuentes did not initiate a proceeding to prove her common-law marriage within section 1.91(b)'s one-year requirement; therefore, she is barred from offering any proof of that relationship. The purpose of the Wrongful Death Act is to provide a means whereby surviving spouses, children, and parents can recover for the loss of their family member. Garza, 768 S.W.2d at 275. Because section 1.91(b)bars Mrs. Fuentes from proving her standing as Mr. Fuentes's surviving spouse, she cannot maintain her wrongful death action against Transamerican.