Can I Claim?
Can you bring a California wrongful death claim?
California is strict about who may sue. The right to bring a wrongful death claim is defined by statute, and being close to the person who died is not by itself enough.
The statute
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 controls. It lists, in order, the people entitled to bring a wrongful death action. If you are not on that list, you cannot sue, however close you were.
Who is normally entitled to sue
- The surviving spouse or registered domestic partner
- The children of the person who died, including adopted children
- The issue of deceased children, grandchildren standing in a deceased parent’s place
- If there is no surviving spouse, partner or issue: whoever would be entitled to the property by intestate succession, which commonly means parents or siblings
- Putative spouses, and their children, in the circumstances the statute describes
- Stepchildren, parents and certain minors who can show they were dependent on the person who died for at least half of their support
The one-action rule
California does not allow each heir to file a separate lawsuit. There is one wrongful death action, and every heir must be part of it.
That becomes a practical problem when an heir cannot be found, or refuses to participate, or is estranged from the rest of the family. The case does not stop, but it has to be structured correctly. See the note on the nominal defendant.
A separate claim the estate may have
Distinct from the heirs’ wrongful death claim, the estate may bring a survival action under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.30 for losses the person suffered before dying, medical expenses, lost earnings, and in some cases pain and suffering.
The two claims are often brought together, and they belong to different parties. Getting that separation right matters for who signs, who recovers, and how a settlement is allocated.
Common questions
Only in limited circumstances. A registered domestic partner may sue. A partner who is neither married nor registered generally cannot, unless they qualify as a putative spouse, someone who genuinely believed in good faith that they were lawfully married. Long cohabitation alone is not enough under California law.
Yes, but usually only if the adult child left no surviving spouse, domestic partner, children or grandchildren. If any of those exist, they take priority. Parents may also qualify if they can show they were financially dependent on the child for at least half of their support.
The case can still proceed. California requires a single joined action, so an heir who will not join as a plaintiff may be named as a nominal defendant. That places them in the case so it can move forward, without requiring them to actively participate, and preserves their share of any recovery.
No. This firm does not accept medical malpractice matters of any kind, including a death following surgery, a missed diagnosis, a medication error, or nursing home neglect. That is a specialized field with its own rules, and you are better served by a lawyer who does it full time. Do not wait: medical malpractice claims in California generally must be brought within one year of discovering the injury and no more than three years from the injury itself, and a 90-day notice of intent is required before filing. Call a specialist now, and if you are not sure who, call us and we will point you to one.
Most wrongful death claims against private parties must be filed within two years of the date of death under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If a government agency may be responsible, a written claim is generally due within six months. Because the exceptions are technical, treat any of these as urgent. Note that this firm does not accept medical malpractice matters, which carry their own much shorter deadlines, if that is what happened, call a medical malpractice specialist today, not next week.
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