I'm really sorry for your loss and my condolences to your family. My only input would be to maybe consider editing out some identifying information in your post if there are criminal and/or civil cases pending.

Thoughts and prayers to you and your family with the tragic loss of your brother. I would second the post above and don't post anything here to jeopardize the case.

Very sorry for your loss. Prayers for you and your family.

My suggestion in response to your questions:

1. Make sure you're completely comfortable with the attorney you've hired to represent you and that they have the experience and qualifications to handle the matter appropriately.

2. Wait and let them do their job.

Assuming you took care of No. 1 above, you're only hurting yourself by trying to get involved. The attorney will conduct an investigation and gather necessary information. They will also obtain information from the other party through discovery. You're much more likely to hurt your case by doing things on your own than you are to help it.

Man, so sorry for your loss

First, extremely sorry for your loss. As someone who has been through something similar (Father killed by drunk driver) TXLawDawg is correct.

What I will add is that once you get to Civil and you're approaching a settlement (if possible/worthwhile) make sure to talk to a CPA as well about how to word the money. In my case we had it labeled as wrongful death because that instance and one other (can't remember at this time) is a way to not have taxes collected.

I will say that from the time of the accident it took approximately 2 years for the criminal case to conclude and then an additional 3 years for the civil to be settled. My lawyer said that the civil needed to wait for the criminal case to conclude.

Criminal was handled by our county DA and honestly the guy did a ton of damage to himself even in the plea bargain trial. We were very close to pulling the plea bargain in the courtroom and a very long story in-and-of-itself.

Civil suit is a different story. He already had 3+ DUI's and rented a vehicle with a suspended license from a local who knew him and knew that he legally couldn't drive so we went after the company. The driver himself had bled himself, his parents, and anyone else that would give him money over the many years. He was a real piece of work that had 'theft by fraud' with his self employed business because he owed so much money (he owed my uncles' business over $100k). The company is a well-known national company and it was enough to stop there.

Honestly, the day that everything was finished was the biggest sigh of relief. I won't BS you. The years of waiting was definitely at weight that hung on myself, mother, and sister the whole time. Once it was over it was another, 'ok, where do we go from here' type of thing. I would say it's the second biggest thing in my life at that point.

This is about as much as I want to share on the internet but email me if you want to talk about it. My email is in my profile and please don't hesitate to reach out. It's a b*tch, not easy, and you will have some really low days. It'll pop up and bother you at the most random of times. Still does for me after 13.5 years already.