Usually, no - in Vermont, a wrongful death case is commonly filed within 2 years from the date of death, not from the date of the crash or the first insurance call.

The traps are in the exceptions and the claim setup:

• Wrongful death vs. survival action: These are not the same claim. A wrongful death case seeks losses caused by the death itself, including funeral and burial costs, the value of lost income and support, and the family's loss of the person's care, companionship, and guidance. A survival action belongs to the estate and covers what the person could have claimed if they had lived, such as pain and suffering before death, medical bills, and lost wages between the injury and death.
• Who files: In Vermont, the claim is usually brought by the personal representative of the estate, not by each family member filing separately. If nobody opened an estate in Washington County Probate Division, that can delay things and insurers use that delay against families.
• The clock can shift: If your brother lived for weeks or months after a Route 302, I-89, or summer tourist-season merge crash, the dates matter. The survival claim may tie to the injury timeline, while wrongful death centers on the death date.
• Government defendants: If a washed-out roadway, bad signage, or a dangerous road condition was involved - something Vermonters remember from Irene-era damage - special notice rules and shorter deadlines may apply if a town, the state, or another public entity is involved.
• Criminal case confusion: A DUI prosecution does not pause the civil deadline. Families in Barre often assume the criminal case comes first; insurers count on that mistake.
• VA benefits are separate: If the deceased was a veteran, VA survivor benefits and a civilian wrongful death case are different systems. One does not automatically file or preserve the other.

If the death was more than 2 years ago, do not assume it is over; the exact injury date, death date, estate status, and defendant can change the answer.