When the hearing was over on Monday, Ms. Anderson, her family, and Mr. Erickson’s mother, Rhonda, went together for the first time to visit Mr. Erickson’s grave. His headstone had been put up just last week, after his mother had struggled for years with the thought of purchasing one for her only child.

Ms. Anderson placed a bouquet of red roses on the grave after withdrawing a single one from the bunch. She said she handed the single rose to Ms. Erickson.

“This will change so many things,” Ms. Anderson said in the telephone interview.

On Monday, James R. Cain, a spokesman for G.M., said in a statement: “We have taken a neutral position on Ms. Anderson’s case. It is appropriate for the court to determine the legal status of Ms. Anderson.”

The automaker’s public acknowledgment linking Ms. Anderson’s crash to the defective ignition switch came in a letter from G.M.’s lawyers that was submitted by her lawyers to the district judge in Van Zandt County, Tex.

Until this year, she wrestled with questions about her role in Mr. Erickson’s death. The police trooper who investigated the accident had deduced that Ms. Anderson was intoxicated before her drug test results came back. His police report referred to the seemingly inexplicable circumstances of the accident, her history of recreational drug use, “and Anderson’s behavior at the scene,” which was disoriented and emotional.