A death on the 405, on Sunset or on a quieter Westside street leaves a family with hospital paperwork, a police event number and a set of legal questions that do not feel like they belong in the same week as a funeral. This guide is a map of the civil file, not a substitute for sitting with a lawyer. The people who may bring a claim, the damages they may ask for, and the dates they have to meet are not the same as in an injury case that the injured person can still bring personally.
The two-year lawsuit date
CCP 335.1 gives two years for a lawsuit over the death of an individual brought about by another person’s wrongful act or neglectful conduct. Talking with an adjuster, opening a claim number or waiting for a “final” report does not pause that date. A government claim still has the earlier six-month presentation date in GOV 911.2, and a later lawsuit date under GOV 945.6 once a claim has been presented. The government-claims guide names the official City and County desks.
CCP 352 can pause some clocks when the person who may sue is a minor, and it does not apply to a Government Claims Act case. A family that includes children, or that may have a public-entity defendant, should not assume that every claim in the file waits until a child turns 18.
Who may bring a claim, in general terms
California distinguishes a claim for the estate, which can include certain losses the person would have had, from a wrongful-death claim brought by specified surviving family members for their own losses. The exact list of who may bring a wrongful-death claim, and how those claims are shared, is set out in the Code of Civil Procedure and should be read in the current official text with a lawyer. What a family needs to know early is simpler. Do not let one relative sign a broad release that is later said to bind people who never agreed, and do not assume that the person who paid the funeral bill is the only person with a claim.
Probate or a successor procedure may be needed before some parts of the file can move. Court departments and local forms change. Ask a lawyer or the clerk which department actually hears that petition, rather than guessing from a map of the Mosk or Santa Monica buildings.
Insurance, fault and Proposition 213
A liability policy first written or renewed from January 1, 2025 onward, has a thirty / sixty / fifteen floor under VEH 16056. Many fatal cases exceed those numbers. Uninsured and underinsured coverage on the decedent’s policy, or on a household policy that actually applies, can then become central, subject to INS 11580.2, including the two-year first-party hook, the no-stacking rule and the credit for amounts already paid. If the other driver was unknown, the physical-contact and 24-hour report requirements in that section matter. The crash-report guide walks through obtaining the LAPD or CHP document. Keep the event number beside the death certificate and any probate papers.
Official instruction CACI 405 still compares fault, including the decedent’s share if the facts support it. If the decedent carries a large share against a group of defendants, the recovery shrinks, and there is no half-fault cutoff in that instruction. CIV 1431.2 makes each defendant’s share of noneconomic harm several only. CIV 3333.4 can also affect non-economic recovery in the uninsured or DUI-conviction situations it names. A fatal DUI case can therefore raise both a coverage question and a Proposition 213 question at the same time. The drunk-driving guide and the Proposition 213 guide take those rules up in more detail.
What to gather
If more than one defendant may be involved, a truck, a rideshare vehicle, a city vehicle or a private driver, keep every report number and every insurer name in the same folder. CIV 1431.2 will later divide noneconomic harm by share, but the early job is simply not to lose a defendant or a policy because a family was too exhausted to make a second call that week.
Collect the death certificate, the crash report number, any photographs from the scene, the declarations pages for household auto policies, medical bills from the final treatment and funeral invoices. Do not give an audio statement to a stranger who claims to represent “the other side,” and do not sign a release while you are still learning who the insurers and the family claimants are. If a rideshare vehicle or a truck was involved, the rideshare guide or the truck guide may also belong in the same folder.
A conversation with an attorney is usually worth having early in a death case, because the people who may claim, the insurance layers and the government-claim dates are easy to confuse. Bring the papers you have. Confirm the person’s California license. Ask what death cases like yours that office has handled, and how the office charges, before you decide anything.
- Wrongful-death claim
- A claim brought by specified surviving family members for their own losses from the death, which is not the same as a claim belonging to the estate.
- Section 913 notice
- The written government-claim notice that, when it is given, starts a six-month period to sue under GOV 945.6.
- Declarations page
- The short policy page that shows liability and uninsured or underinsured limits, which a fatal file often depends on once the harm exceeds the other driver’s floor.