How to run Wrongful Death Damages in DocketMath for Colorado

Step-by-step

Run this scenario in DocketMath using the Wrongful Death Damages calculator.

This guide walks you through running Wrongful Death Damages in DocketMath for Colorado (US-CO). The goal is to help you produce a jurisdiction-aware damage run—so the calculator reflects Colorado-specific wrongful-death damages components such as economic losses, noneconomic losses, and (when applicable) loss of household services.

1) Open the correct calculator

1. Go to the primary CTA: /tools/wrongful-death-damages
2. Confirm you’re using the Wrongful Death Damages calculator in DocketMath.
3. Set Jurisdiction to Colorado (US-CO).

If your DocketMath screen separates “jurisdiction” from “calculator,” make sure the jurisdiction selector is set to US-CO before you start entering facts.

2) Select the wrongful-death case inputs

DocketMath’s wrongful-death flow typically breaks the analysis into inputs you can map to:

• Who was killed (decedent profile)
• Who claims (beneficiary profile(s))
• Time horizon (often tied to life expectancy assumptions)
• Economic damages (lost earnings and related economic contributions)
• Noneconomic damages (loss categories depending on the claim structure supported by the tool)
• Household services (if the input set supports it)

Use the checklist below to gather your numbers before typing them in.

Quick input checklist

3) Enter economic-loss inputs (earnings & future economic contribution)

In wrongful-death damage models, economic loss is usually the largest moving part. In DocketMath, enter what the tool provides for:

• Decedent earnings / earning rate (annual)
• Earnings start and end assumptions (if the calculator asks)
• Employment probability or labor participation assumptions (if offered)
• Pre-injury baseline costs or offsets (if your interface includes them)

How outputs change

• Higher annual earnings → larger economic damages.
• Shorter/longer time horizon → changes total future economic loss.
• If the tool lets you model an economic contribution share (e.g., what decedent would likely have contributed to beneficiaries), increasing that share increases the economic total.

4) Enter noneconomic-loss inputs (loss categories)

Noneconomic components typically include categories such as loss of companionship/consortium-type harms, and related concepts depending on how the tool structures the claim.

In DocketMath:

• Fill in the beneficiary relationship(s) and any relationship weighting options the tool provides.
• If there’s a slider or multiplier for severity/impact, choose values that match your evidence narrative.

How outputs change

• More beneficiaries / closer relationships (as captured by the tool) → increases noneconomic total.
• If you can set a multiplier or severity factor, even small changes can materially affect the noneconomic bucket, which then flows into the grand total.

5) Add household-services loss (if applicable)

Colorado wrongful-death models often include loss of household services where evidence supports it (for example, services the decedent would have provided to family).

In the DocketMath interface:

• Turn on household services only if you have a fact basis for including it.
• Enter either:

  • an estimated annual value of services, or
  • hours per week × hourly valuation, if the tool requests a granular approach.

How outputs change

• Turning household services from “off” to a positive value can increase total damages meaningfully even when earnings are low.
• If both earnings and household services are being estimated, ensure they aren’t double-counting the same contribution—use DocketMath’s structure as your guardrail.

6) Apply Colorado-specific wrongful-death structure inside DocketMath

DocketMath’s jurisdiction-aware rules for US-CO are applied once:

• the jurisdiction is set to Colorado, and
• you’ve populated the relevant wrongful-death components in the tool.

Before you run:

• Verify the jurisdiction label reads US-CO.
• Check whether the tool shows any Colorado-specific message or toggles related to wrongful-death categories.

Then run the calculator to get results.

7) Review the output breakdown and totals

After running, DocketMath should display:

• Economic damages
• Noneconomic damages
• Household services (if included)
• Total wrongful-death damages

Use the breakdown to stress-test your assumptions:

• If economic damages dominate, focus on decedent earnings and time horizon.
• If noneconomic damages dominate, validate relationship inputs and noneconomic factors.

Suggested review steps

8) Save/export and iterate with scenario comparisons

Most workflows improve with scenario runs. Example scenario comparisons:

• Scenario A: earnings-only (household services off)
• Scenario B: earnings + household services
• Scenario C: different earnings trajectory (conservative vs higher estimate)
• Scenario D: different beneficiary configuration (if the tool supports multiple beneficiaries)

If DocketMath supports export/download, save versions with clear naming (e.g., “CO_wrongful_death_econ_plus_household_v1”).

9) Capture supporting notes for each assumption

To keep your run audit-friendly:

• Record what you entered and why (evidence basis, ranges, and where the numbers came from—even if you later adjust).
• Note any values you treat as estimates.

A simple internal note format:

• “Decedent earnings: modeled at $X/year based on Y”
• “Time horizon: based on life expectancy assumption of Z”
• “Household services: included at $A/year derived from B”

This isn’t legal advice—it’s quality control for repeatable calculations.

Common pitfalls

Below are frequent issues that distort wrongful-death outputs in DocketMath for Colorado (US-CO).

• Using the wrong jurisdiction code

  • If you accidentally run with a non-Colorado selection, the calculator will apply the wrong wrongful-death structure.
  • Fix: confirm US-CO before entering numbers.

• Over-including beneficiaries

  • Adding beneficiaries that don’t match your claim structure can inflate both economic and noneconomic totals in a way that doesn’t match the tool’s intended model.
  • Fix: ensure beneficiary entries align with the tool’s supported beneficiary categories.

• Inconsistent ages

  • If decedent age and beneficiary ages are misaligned, noneconomic allocations and any age-based calculations can skew totals.
  • Fix: use a single age reference date (or whatever the tool’s input expects).

• Double-counting household services

  • Household services sometimes overlap with earnings-contribution modeling depending on how you estimate contributions.
  • Fix: treat household services as a distinct component and follow DocketMath’s field design.

• Skipping scenario comparison

  • A single run can hide sensitivity to one assumption (especially earnings or household-services valuation).
  • Fix: run at least 2–3 scenarios and compare deltas.

Try it

Ready to run your first Colorado wrongful-death damages scenario in DocketMath?

1. Open the calculator: /tools/wrongful-death-damages
2. Set **Jurisdiction = Colorado (US-CO)
3. Start with a baseline:
4. Run, review the breakdown, then create v2 by:

If you want a tighter sensitivity check, add v3 by adjusting only one lever:

• change earnings and keep all else constant, or
• change household services and keep earnings constant.

To jump straight into a comparison workflow, you can revisit the tool entry point here: /tools/wrongful-death-damages.

Related reading

• Wrongful Death Damages Estimator Guide for Alabama
• Wrongful Death Damages Estimator Guide for Arizona
• Wrongful Death Damages Estimator Guide for Connecticut