California Wrongful Death Lawyers

The Relatives Who Bring a California Wrongful Death Claim and the Losses Covered

When someone's negligence takes a family member's life in California, the surviving spouse, children, and certain other relatives can bring a wrongful death claim.

The family brings that claim together, under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60.

It covers the family's financial losses and the loss of the person's love and companionship.

California does not compensate grief itself, and outside medical malpractice it sets no cap on these damages.

A separate survival claim, brought for the person who died, recovers what that person lost before death.

Most wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the death, and within six months when a public agency is involved.

If you have lost someone and have questions about what comes next, call (888) 713-6653 when you are ready.

Standing Under CCP § 377.60 and the Heirs Who Sue Together

California decides who may sue by statute. Section 377.60 starts with the surviving spouse or domestic partner, the children, and the children of any child who died earlier, and turns to other relatives only when there are none.^[1]

• First: the spouse or registered domestic partner, children, and grandchildren through a deceased child
• If there are no descendants: the relatives who would inherit under California's intestacy rules, such as parents or siblings
• If they depended on the person who died: a putative spouse, that spouse's children, stepchildren, parents, or legal guardians if the parents have died
• A minor who lived in the household for the 180 days before the death and depended on the decedent for half or more of their support

The heirs bring one action together. Since Cross v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (1964), California has treated the claim as joint and indivisible: every heir with a claim is joined, and the court divides the award among them. Our page on how standing and the one-action rule work in practice walks through the harder cases.

Identifying every heir at the start matters, because the heirs share a single action and the case cannot be brought a second time.

What California Wrongful Death Damages Pay For, and What They Leave Out

Section 377.61 allows the damages that are "just" under all the circumstances, and the California jury instruction lists what that means.^[2]

Lost financial support and household services

The income the person would have contributed to the family, measured over the shorter of the two life expectancies, along with gifts and benefits the family would have received and the value of the work the person did at home, from childcare to keeping the household running.

Love, companionship, comfort, and guidance

The loss of the person's love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support. For a child who lost a parent, it can include the loss of the parent's training and guidance.

Funeral and burial costs

The reasonable cost of the funeral and burial, which the family can document with the receipts.

What the claim does not pay

The jury is told not to consider the family's grief, sorrow, or mental anguish, the pain the person suffered before death, or the family's wealth or poverty. The person's own losses belong to the survival claim, covered below.

The claim is built from ordinary things: the paycheck, the school pickups, the advice at the kitchen table. Those details are what a jury weighs. What the law measures is the support, care, and guidance that stopped on the day of the death.

The Separate Survival Claim and California's 2026 Change

When a person dies of an injury, the claims they would have had pass to their estate. That survival action is brought by the personal representative or, if there is none, the successor in interest, who files a declaration under CCP § 377.32. It can be joined with the wrongful death case under § 377.62.

Section 377.34 lets the survival claim recover the person's own economic losses, such as medical bills and lost earnings before death, and "any penalties or punitive or exemplary damages" they could have recovered.^[3] Punitive damages are generally not available in the wrongful death claim itself.

The pain and suffering the person endured before death is the part that changed. It was recoverable in survival actions filed from 2022 through 2025, and it is not recoverable in most actions filed on or after January 1, 2026, as our page on survival damages after the 2026 change explains. A death caused by reckless neglect of an elder or dependent adult is the main exception, under the Elder Abuse Act.

For a family whose loved one suffered before dying, the filing date and the facts that might support the Elder Abuse Act now matter more than they did a year ago.

Deaths From Medical Malpractice Under MICRA's $650,000 Limit

When a death results from a health care provider's negligence, Civil Code § 3333.2 caps the non-economic damages. For a death, the cap is $650,000 in 2026 and $700,000 in 2027, applied separately to health care providers and to hospitals, with the figure in effect at judgment or settlement controlling.^[4] Economic losses, including the lost financial support, are not capped.

• The deadline follows CCP § 340.5, with the death treated as the injury: one year from discovering it and its likely cause, and no more than three years
• Kaiser members' heirs are generally bound by the member's arbitration agreement for malpractice claims, but Holland v. Silverscreen Healthcare (2025) held that agreement does not reach claims about a facility's neglect of basic needs
• The 90-day notice of intent under § 364 applies before a lawsuit is filed

Who owned the hospital, and whether the death came from medical judgment or from a failure of basic care, decides which of these rules apply, as our page on California medical malpractice claims explains.

When a City, County, or State Agency Shares Responsibility for a Death

A death on a dangerous road, in a crash with a public vehicle, or in a county hospital brings in the Government Claims Act. A written claim must be presented to the public entity within six months of the death under Government Code § 911.2, before any lawsuit can be filed.^[5]

• The six-month deadline is not paused because a child is among the heirs
• A public entity cannot be ordered to pay punitive damages under Government Code § 818
• For lawsuits filed in 2027 or later, a public entity found 15 percent or less at fault pays only its own share of the economic damages under SB 577

Where the claim goes depends on which agency is involved, as our page on filing a claim against a California public entity lays out.

For a death in Los Angeles County, the City, the County, and Metro each take claims at a different office, set out with the rest of a Los Angeles wrongful death claim. When the driver was a service member or other federal employee on duty, as happens around San Diego's bases, the claim runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act instead, covered on our page for San Diego wrongful death claims.

The six-month claim often comes due while a family is still arranging services, which is why it is the deadline most often missed in a death case.

Fatal Crashes and Workplace Deaths Behind Most California Claims

Most California wrongful death claims begin on the road. NHTSA's fatality data counted 3,876 traffic deaths in the state in 2024, including 1,090 pedestrians, 522 motorcyclists, and 163 bicyclists.^[6]

Workplace deaths are the other large group. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 419 fatal work injuries in California in 2024, 81 of them in construction.^[7] A family receives workers' compensation death benefits from the employer, and a separate wrongful death claim is possible against any other company whose negligence caused the death, as our page on third-party claims after a California work injury explains.

Deaths in nursing homes, in hospitals, and from defective products make up much of the rest, and each brings its own rules about who is responsible and how the claim is proved.

Protecting a Wrongful Death Claim in the First Weeks

Nothing about a claim has to happen in the first days after a death. A few things are worth doing early, because the records involved do not wait.

If a minor is among the heirs, any settlement of the child's share needs a judge's approval, as our page on the minor's compromise process explains.

How Much Is a California Wrongful Death Claim Worth?

A California wrongful death claim is worth what the family lost, which depends on who the person was to them and what the person contributed, with no cap outside medical malpractice.

• The person's age, health, and earnings, which shape the lost financial support over the shorter of the two life expectancies
• The relationships, since a young child who lost a parent loses a parent's direction as well as income
• The household role, including care for children or an aging parent
• Shared fault, because if the person who died was partly at fault, the family's recovery is reduced by the same percentage under California's comparative fault rules (CACI 407)

An uninsured driver's own pain-and-suffering claim is barred by Proposition 213, but the courts have held that bar does not reach the family's wrongful death damages. Insurance limits often set the practical ceiling, so every policy that could apply, including the family's own underinsured motorist coverage, is part of valuing the case.

The value rests on records of the person's earnings, the household arrangements, and the family relationships involved.

How Long a Family Has to File a California Wrongful Death Claim

Most wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within two years of the death under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1.^[8]

• Medical malpractice: one year from discovering the death and its likely cause, and no more than three years, under § 340.5
• A public entity: a written government claim within six months
• An uninsured motorist claim: settled, sued on, or taken to arbitration within two years

The other California filing deadlines and what can pause them are on our page about California injury and death filing deadlines.

When a public agency or a hospital may share responsibility, the shorter deadline is the one to plan around.