An injury may interrupt work that never appeared on a pay stub: cooking, school pickup, cleaning, yard work, or caring for a relative. To document the change, identify what the injured person actually did before the incident, what help became necessary afterward, and how that need changed during recovery. A description of the household’s real routine is more useful than assigning a flat weekly value to “help at home.”
Describe the household before the injury
List recurring tasks and who normally handled them. Include shared duties and work already performed by paid providers. Calendars, school schedules, messages, receipts, and firsthand accounts can help establish the routine. Explain seasonal changes: mowing may occur regularly in summer, while a repair project may happen only once.
Be clear about the injured person’s share. If two adults alternated school pickup, the loss should not be described as five pickups a week by one person. If a cleaner already visited twice a month, identify any additional service prompted by the injury instead of treating the entire existing bill as a new expense.
Record prior limitations and other changes occurring around the same time. A move, a new job, or a child leaving home may alter household work independently of the injury. Those facts help make a before-and-after comparison accurate.
Keep a task log with enough detail to check
Use short entries made near the time of the work. State whether the time is measured or estimated, who supplied the information, and whether the help was paid or unpaid. Keep the log manageable enough to maintain during recovery.
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| Field | What to record | Example of useful detail |
|---|---|---|
| Task and date | The actual work and when it occurred | Grocery shopping and carrying bags on a particular Saturday |
| Usual arrangement | Who did the work before the injury and how often | The injured person shopped weekly; another adult usually put groceries away. |
| Current limitation | What part could not be done, took longer, or required help | Shopping resumed, but another person carried the bags. |
| Replacement or delay | Who helped, what they did, or which work was postponed | A relative drove and carried groceries; no payment was requested. |
| Time and cost | Actual or estimated time, amount paid, and supporting receipt | Keep a delivery fee separate from the ordinary cost of groceries. |
| Change during recovery | When assistance increased, decreased, or ended | Independent carrying resumed after the recorded recovery milestone. |
Do not create invoices for relatives who did not charge. Their dated accounts can describe real work without presenting an unpaid favor as a paid bill. If help was purchased, retain the invoice, scope of service, payment record, and any agreement showing the rate.
Overlapping activities need explanation. One hour spent supervising children while preparing dinner is not automatically two separate hours of replacement labor. Similarly, a contractor’s minimum call-out charge may differ from an hourly rate. Preserve the actual pricing structure.
Connect the work change to the medical and functional record
Compare each claimed limitation with treatment notes, restrictions, therapy observations, and the person’s actual experience. An inability to carry laundry up stairs may last longer than an inability to fold it while seated. The log should capture that difference rather than describe all laundry as impossible throughout recovery.
Discuss difficulties with the treating team and follow its guidance. Do not attempt unsafe tasks to demonstrate a limitation. Record improvement and remaining ability as carefully as the periods requiring substantial assistance. If help continued after a restriction ended, explain the reason and identify any clinical support.
A future projection requires more than multiplying the hardest week by a life expectancy. Identify the tasks likely to remain affected, expected frequency, medical basis for duration, and assumptions that may change. The estimate should distinguish temporary recovery assistance from a supported continuing need.
Separate the person, service, and legal claim
Louisiana Civil Code article 2315 provides the general basis for damages caused by another person’s fault. Subsection B also addresses loss of consortium, service, and society for specified categories of relatives. It does not provide a universal household hourly rate or establish that every relative can recover every recorded loss.
Identify whose claim is being evaluated and what the entry represents. Household work formerly performed by the injured person, personal assistance now provided to that person, a relative’s missed wages, and a relative’s own claimed loss can involve different proof. Counsel should determine the applicable categories and address overlap before combining figures.
The Louisiana injury-claim guide explains how records support the broader claim. Our back and neck injury valuation guide discusses why individual function matters more than an average settlement figure.
Support the value with comparable work
For paid help, start with the actual service and bill. For a proposed future service, obtain a dated quote describing the work, frequency, travel charges, supplies, and minimum booking. A cleaning quote for a larger house or a different scope may not provide a useful comparison.
Unpaid replacement work should also be documented. A comparable market quote may help evaluate its value, but it does not alone determine legal recoverability. Work that was postponed, redistributed, or no longer needed should be described honestly rather than automatically priced as a purchased service.
Check a broader care plan for the same cleaning, childcare, transportation, or attendant-care entries. A useful review file contains the prior routine, task log, medical support, invoices or quotes, and an explanation of how overlapping items were handled. Our Baton Rouge personal-injury practice evaluates those records alongside the other claimed losses.
Editorial & Legal Accuracy Notice (Louisiana)
Sources checked: September 30, 2026.
This article provides general information about documenting household losses. Causation, claimant eligibility, duration, valuation, and recoverability require individual analysis.