Recovering Damages for Lost Household Services After a Serious Injury

A serious injury can affect far more than a paycheck. Cooking, cleaning, childcare, yard work, and driving family members around are all real labor, even when no one gets paid for it. When an injury takes that ability away, the loss can be part of a personal injury claim, but proving it takes more than saying “I can’t do as much anymore.” 

Why Household Work Counts as a Real Loss

Georgia doesn’t have a single statute labeled “lost household services.” Instead, the claim fits within the state’s broader damages framework, compensation for injuries that can be estimated in money, under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-4. That framing matters because household tasks have measurable time value even without a paycheck attached. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2025 American Time Use Survey found that most people (81%) engage in household activities on an average day, spending roughly two hours doing them, which helps show why courts treat this labor as worth something. 

A federal case applying Georgia law, Cohen v. United States, noted that pain and suffering here includes loss of ability to labor, though that concept doesn’t create an automatic formula for household-service losses specifically.

What the Evidence Needs to Show

Necessary expenses caused by an injury, like paying for cleaning or childcare a spouse used to handle, are a recognized damages category under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-7. Household losses may also connect to the injury as consequential damages under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-3.

The strongest claims separate three things: 

• What the person did before the injury
• What they can no longer do
• What it costs to replace that work

Medical restrictions, family testimony, receipts for paid help, and before-and-after comparisons support that picture better than a general statement about being less able to help around the house.

Start Documenting the Loss Now

Keep a simple log of household tasks you used to handle, what you need help with now, who helps, and whether anyone is paid. Georgia personal injury claims generally must be filed within two years, so don’t wait to start building the record.

At Morris & Dean, we help Georgia clients gather the kind of evidence that supports a household-services claim. Call us at 706-222-3790 or contact us.