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California Lets Spouses, Children, and Certain Dependents Sue Together Under § 377.60
In California, a wrongful death claim can be brought by the person's spouse or registered domestic partner, their children, and the children of a child who has already died.
If none of them survive, the people who would inherit under California's intestacy rules can sue, most often the parents.
Some relatives can sue only if they depended on the person, including parents, stepchildren, and a putative spouse.
A minor who lived in the home for the last 180 days and relied on the person for half their support can also qualify.
Every eligible family member brings one claim together, in a single lawsuit.
If you are trying to work out who can act for your family, call (888) 713-6653 with your questions at no cost.
Spouses, Partners, Children, and Grandchildren Have First Standing Under § 377.60(a)
Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60(a) gives the first right to sue to the decedent's surviving spouse, registered domestic partner, children, and the children of any deceased child.[1] Each of them has a claim without having to prove they depended on the person financially. An adult child who lived across the country has standing the same as a young child at home.
When none of those relatives survive, the right passes to whoever would inherit the decedent's property under California's intestate succession rules. For a person with no spouse, partner, or children, that is usually the parents, and after them brothers and sisters.
A registered domestic partnership counts the same as a marriage. A partner who lived with the decedent but never registered has no claim under this tier, and may not have one at all unless another part of the statute fits.
Standing is decided by the family's legal relationships on the date of death, so the list of who must be part of the case is fixed early and needs to be complete.
When Parents and Stepchildren Must Show Dependence Under § 377.60(b)
"One tragedy. Two lawsuits. When the law gives a family two ways to fight back, file both."
Section 377.60(b) adds a second group who can sue whether or not they qualify under the first tier, but only if they were dependent on the decedent: a putative spouse, the putative spouse's children, stepchildren, parents, and, if the parents have died, the decedent's legal guardians.
- Parents. A parent of an adult child who had a spouse or children of their own can still sue by showing they relied on that child for support, such as money for rent, food, or medical care.
- Stepchildren. A stepchild never adopted by the decedent has a claim if the stepparent supported them.
- A putative spouse. A person who believed in good faith that they were validly married to the decedent, when the marriage was legally defective, can sue as a dependent.
- A putative spouse's children. The children of that putative spouse qualify on the same dependence showing.
- Legal guardians. When the decedent's parents are deceased, a legal guardian of the decedent who depended on them can sue.
Courts look at whether the person relied on the decedent for the necessities of life, not whether the decedent gave occasional gifts. Bank records, leases, and proof of who paid which bills are what establish it.
Gathering that proof early keeps an eligible family member from being left out of the only lawsuit the family will get.
The Minor in the Household for 180 Days Under § 377.60(c)
California also protects a child who lived with the decedent but has no legal tie to them. Under § 377.60(c), a minor who resided in the decedent's household for the 180 days before the death, and who was dependent on the decedent for one-half or more of their support, can bring a wrongful death claim.
That reaches the child of a partner, a grandchild being raised by a grandparent, or a niece or nephew who had moved in, as long as both the residence and the support conditions are met.
The proof is ordinary household paperwork: school enrollment showing the address, the lease or mortgage, and records of who paid for the child's food, clothing, and care.
One Lawsuit for the Whole Family Under Cross v. Pacific Gas & Electric
California treats a wrongful death claim as a single action that belongs to all the eligible heirs together. In Cross v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the California Supreme Court called it "a joint one, a single one, and an indivisible one," in which every heir should be joined.[2]
Every eligible family member should be part of the case, and an heir who will not join as a plaintiff can be named as a nominal defendant so their claim is decided at the same time. A settlement or judgment covers the whole family's claim.
The award is not split equally by default. It is divided among the heirs according to each person's own loss, so a young child who lost a parent's support for many years may receive more than an adult sibling. When the family cannot agree, the court decides the division.
Agreeing on who is in the case, and talking openly about how a recovery would be shared, protects the family from a second fight after the first one ends.
The Estate Brings the Survival Claim Through a Personal Representative or Successor
A death often produces two claims. The wrongful death claim belongs to the family. The survival claim, for what the person lost before death, belongs to the estate and has to be brought by someone with authority to act for it.[3]
- A personal representative. An executor or administrator appointed by the probate court.
- A successor in interest. The person who inherits the claim, acting without a probate case by filing a sworn declaration under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.32.
The estate step can be started through the probate court or with the successor declaration, so the right person has the legal authority to bring the survival claim alongside the wrongful death case.
What that survival claim can recover changed for cases filed in 2026, as our page on California survival damages after January 1, 2026 explains.
How § 377.61 Measures a Family's Loss Over the Person's Expected Life
A California wrongful death claim is worth the family's own losses from the death, which the law measures by what the person would have provided over the rest of their life, and it has no cap outside medical malpractice.[4]
- Financial support the person would have contributed to the family, including gifts and benefits
- Household services, such as childcare, cooking, home repair, and driving, that someone now has to provide or be paid for
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support
California does not compensate the family's grief or sorrow as such, and it does not include the decedent's own pain before death, which belongs, if anywhere, to the survival claim. Punitive damages also belong to the survival claim rather than the wrongful death claim, except in a death caused by a felony homicide.
A family member who saw the death happen may have a separate claim for the trauma of witnessing it, which California treats apart from the wrongful death damages, as our page on bystander emotional distress under Thing v. La Chusa explains.
When the death followed a medical error, the non-economic part of the family's claim is limited to $650,000 per category of defendant in 2026, set out on our page about the MICRA cap and its yearly increases.
The value of a death claim rests on the life the person was living, which is why the family's knowledge of that life is evidence the case cannot do without.
Two Years From the Death, or Six Months Against a Public Entity
A California wrongful death lawsuit must be filed within two years of the death under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1.[5] The clock runs from the death, not the injury, so a person who was hurt and died months later gives the family two years from the date of death.
A death involving a city bus, a county hospital, a state highway, or a school requires a written government claim within six months of the death, and children in the family get no extra time on that claim. Our page on California's six-month government claim rule covers it.
A death caused by medical malpractice runs on a one-year discovery clock with a three-year outer limit, which is shorter than many families expect.