California Wrongful Death Lawyer

There are two separate claims, and the difference matters

California splits a fatal injury into two distinct legal actions. They are often filed together, but they compensate different losses and belong to different people.

The wrongful death claim

This belongs to the surviving family members and compensates what they lost by losing the person. It is governed by Code of Civil Procedure sections 377.60 and 377.61.

The survival action

This belongs to the decedent's estate and compensates what the person themselves suffered and lost between the injury and death. It is governed by Code of Civil Procedure sections 377.30 and 377.34, and it is brought by the personal representative of the estate or by the estate's successor in interest.

In a crash case, that typically means one lawsuit with two sets of damages: the family's loss of their father, and the estate's claim for the ambulance, the surgery, the days in intensive care and the wages he would have earned.

Who is allowed to bring the claim

California limits standing by statute. Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 sets out who may sue, in a rough order of priority:

• The surviving spouse or registered domestic partner.
• The children, and the children of a deceased child.
• If there is no surviving spouse, partner or issue, the people who would be entitled to the decedent's property by intestate succession, which commonly means parents or siblings.
• A putative spouse who in good faith believed they were married, and that person's children, where they were dependent on the decedent.
• Parents who were dependent on the decedent for support.
• Stepchildren and certain minors who lived in the decedent's household for at least 180 days before death and were dependent on the decedent for at least half of their support.

Two practical consequences. First, California generally requires all of these claims to be brought in a single action, so the heirs need to be identified and joined rather than filing separately. Second, a long-term unmarried partner who was not a registered domestic partner typically has no standing, no matter how long the relationship lasted. That result is harsh and it is the law, and it is one of the first things we check.

What the law allows a family to recover

Wrongful death damages in California fall into two groups.

Economic losses

• The financial support the decedent would reasonably have contributed to the family over their expected working life.
• The loss of gifts or benefits the heirs would have expected to receive.
• Funeral and burial expenses.
• The reasonable value of household services the decedent would have provided. This is a substantial and frequently overlooked item, particularly where the person who died ran the household rather than earning the income.

Non-economic losses

The loss of the person's love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society and moral support. For a spouse, that includes the loss of the intimate relationship. For a child, it includes the loss of the training and guidance a parent would have provided.

The January 1, 2026 change to survival actions

This is the most important recent development in California wrongful death practice, and many websites have not caught up with it.

For decades, a survival action in California could not recover the decedent's own pain and suffering. Senate Bill 447 created a temporary exception: for survival actions filed between January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2026, the estate could recover the decedent's pre-death pain, suffering and disfigurement. The Legislature wrote that provision with a sunset date, and efforts to extend it did not pass.

That exception expired on January 1, 2026. California has reverted to its prior rule. A survival action filed now generally cannot recover the decedent's pain and suffering, even where the person survived for days or weeks in obvious agony before dying. What the estate can still recover is the decedent's economic losses: medical expenses incurred before death, lost earnings for that period, and punitive damages where the conduct supports them.

What this means in practice. The wrongful death claim, which belongs to the family and compensates the loss of the relationship, is unaffected and remains the center of most fatal injury cases. But a case that would have included a large pre-death suffering component in 2025 looks different in 2026, and any valuation or advice that assumes otherwise is out of date. There is a separate statutory scheme for elder and dependent adult abuse under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657 that permits limited pre-death pain and suffering recovery subject to a statutory cap and heightened proof requirements; whether it applies is a fact-specific question for cases involving care facilities and dependent adults.

Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34; Senate Bill 447 (2021), sunset January 1, 2026. Verified against current law October 2026.

Deadlines, and the probate step

• Wrongful death: generally two years from the date of death under CCP 335.1, not from the date of the injury. Where someone is injured and dies months later, the clock usually runs from death.
• Against a public entity: generally six months to file a written administrative claim under Government Code 911.2. This applies when a city, county, transit agency, school district, public hospital or state agency may be responsible, including a dangerous roadway condition.
• Medical negligence resulting in death: the shorter MICRA periods under CCP 340.5 apply.
• Minor heirs: a minor child's own wrongful death claim is subject to tolling, but the practical approach is to bring all heirs' claims together rather than relying on tolling.

The survival action requires someone with legal authority to act for the estate. If there is no will or no appointed personal representative, that may mean a probate petition or a successor in interest declaration under CCP 377.32. This is procedural and it is routine, but it takes time, and it is a common reason fatal injury cases stall at the beginning. We handle that step rather than leaving a family to discover it later.

How we handle a fatal crash case

1. Identify every heir with standing under section 377.60, and address the structure of the case before filing rather than after.
2. Move immediately on evidence. In fatal collisions the vehicles are usually impounded, the CHP may conduct a full reconstruction, and electronic data on commercial vehicles is on a short retention schedule.
3. Obtain the coroner's report, the autopsy and toxicology, and the full CHP investigation file, including any Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team materials.
4. Find every applicable policy. Fatal cases routinely exceed primary limits, which makes umbrella, employer and commercial coverage decisive.
5. Establish the economic loss properly, with an economist where the decedent was a wage earner or provided substantial household services, rather than guessing at a number.
6. Handle the probate or successor in interest step so the survival action is properly brought.
7. Keep the family informed on a schedule we set, so nobody has to call and ask whether anything is happening.