Nothing about this is a good time to be reading about deadlines and statutes. What follows is the short version of what actually decides these cases in California, because two things are commonly got wrong and both of them cost families money.
There are two separate claims after a death, not one. The wrongful death claim belongs to the family for what they have lost. The survival action belongs to the estate for what the person themselves lost before they died. They are governed by different sections, they pay for different things, and Code of Civil Procedure 377.61 says the family’s award “may not include damages recoverable under Section 377.34”, so they cannot overlap.
Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting for injured people and their families in California. We work on contingency, we advance the costs of the case, and there is no fee unless we win. If there is no recovery, you are not charged those costs either. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour, including tonight.
Who Is Allowed to Bring the Claim?
California decides this by statute rather than by who was closest to the person, which is the part families find hardest.
Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 sets two tiers.
The first tier needs no proof of dependency. The surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and the issue of any deceased children. Where there is no surviving issue, the people who would take the estate by intestate succession.
The second tier has to prove financial dependency on the person who died. Under 377.60(b), a putative spouse, the children of a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents may bring a claim “if they were dependent on the decedent”.
Parents are in the second tier, and that surprises almost every family it applies to. A parent who has lost an adult child does not have standing merely by being a parent. They have to show they were financially dependent. It is provable in many cases and it is not automatic, and the evidence for it is ordinary financial records rather than anything exotic.
The Two Claims, and What Each One Pays For
| Claim | Whose it is | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Wrongful death, CCP 377.60 and 377.61 | The surviving family members the statute lists | Their own losses: financial support the person would have provided, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of the person’s love, companionship, comfort, care and guidance |
| Survival action, CCP 377.34 | The estate, through the personal representative or successor in interest | Losses the person incurred before death: medical bills, lost earnings, and punitive damages they could have recovered. Not pain, suffering or disfigurement, for any action filed on or after 1 January 2026 |
That last line is new and most pages have not caught up with it. Between 1 January 2022 and 1 January 2026 a survival action could include the person’s pain and suffering. That window has closed. The test is when the action was filed, not when the death happened, so a case filed in December 2025 is in a different position from one filed today.
The practical consequence is that the family’s own claim now carries proportionally more of the value, and it is the one that has to be built properly.
Do you know which of the two claims you have?
They belong to different people and pay for different things. Most families are entitled to both and are told about one.
What Damages Can Be Recovered?
The family’s claim covers what the survivors have lost rather than what the estate has lost, and the two largest items are not the obvious ones.
Financial support the person would have provided, measured over the years they would have been expected to work and to contribute to the household. On a young person with a working life ahead of them this is usually the single largest figure in the case.
The loss of their love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society and moral support. California recognizes these as real losses rather than sentiment, and they are valued separately for each family member.
Funeral and burial costs, and the value of household services the person performed.
The estate’s claim, brought alongside it, covers the medical bills and lost earnings from between the injury and the death, and any punitive damages the person could have recovered had they lived.
Who Is on the Other Side?
The defendant depends on how the death happened, and it changes the deadline rather than only the paperwork.
Where a public entity is involved, and in Kern County that reaches the transit district, school districts, the city, the county and Caltrans on Highway 99, Interstate 5 and State Route 58, a written claim must be presented within six months. That is the same rule that governs a claim against a public bus operator.
Where a commercial vehicle was involved, the carrier holds records that expire on a federal schedule rather than a state one, which is what drives a commercial vehicle claim. Deaths also arise from crashes involving cars, from people struck while walking, from motorcycle collisions, and at work, where a third party other than the employer is frequently the one who is liable.
How Long Do We Have?
Two years from the date of death for the wrongful death claim, under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Six months to present a written claim to a public entity, under Government Code 911.2, before any lawsuit against it is possible.
A minor child of the person who died has the ordinary limitation period paused under Code of Civil Procedure 352, but the six-month government claim deadline is not paused the same way.
Nobody needs to decide anything in the first weeks. Establishing who may bring the claim, and opening an estate so the survival action can be brought at all, takes time that families should not be spending under pressure. The reason to make one call early is the six-month rule, not the two-year one.
Were you financially dependent on the person who died?
For parents and stepchildren that is what decides whether they can claim at all. It is provable more often than families expect.
Where the Case Goes, and Where the Records Are
Practical answers, because families are usually handling this alongside everything else and nobody has told them where anything is.
The case. A wrongful death claim is an unlimited civil case, filed at the Metro Justice Building, 1215 Truxtun Avenue and heard in Kern County, before a Kern County jury.
Where a public entity is involved, a written claim must be presented within six months rather than two years, and no lawsuit can be brought until it has been. For the City of Bakersfield that goes to the City Clerk, 1600 Truxtun Avenue, 1st floor, and is answered by Risk Management on the 5th floor. The city, the county, a school district, a transit district and the state are separate entities with separate processes, so establish which one before filing. The bus pages on this site set out how easily that goes wrong here: three public bus operators serve this city and none of them is the City of Bakersfield.
The records. The most serious injuries in the county are taken to Kern Medical, 1700 Mount Vernon Avenue, a Level II trauma center. Where a collision was involved, the police report comes from the Bakersfield Police Department Records Unit at 1601 Truxtun Avenue, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for a flat $7. The department says injury and fatal collision investigations take several days to weeks, and a fatal investigation is at the far end of that. The report taking a long time is normal and is not a sign that anything has gone wrong. It is also not a reason to wait, because the six-month deadline, where it applies, does not pause for it.
One more thing worth saying plainly. A coroner’s investigation and a police investigation are separate from the civil claim and run on their own timetables. Nothing in a civil claim interferes with either, and starting one does not require waiting for either to finish.
Why Bakersfield Families Choose Culver Legal
We come to you. At home, in the hospital, or wherever is easiest. Nobody should have to travel across the county to start this.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean. Explaining what happened in your own words is not a convenience.
The economics are simple. The firm works on contingency and advances the costs of the case, so there is nothing to pay up front and no fee unless we win. We advance the case costs, and if there is no recovery you are not charged those costs either. Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting, and answers the phone 24 hours a day.
Bakersfield Wrongful Death FAQs
Can I bring a claim for my adult child who died?
Only if you were financially dependent on them. Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 puts parents in the second tier, which requires dependency to be shown, rather than the first tier, which does not. It is provable in many cases through ordinary financial records, and it is worth asking about rather than assuming either way.
Can the estate still recover for what my family member suffered before they died?
Not for actions filed from 1 January 2026 onward. Code of Civil Procedure 377.34 excludes pain, suffering and disfigurement from a survival action, and the exception that allowed them applied only to actions filed before that date. The estate can still recover medical bills and lost earnings from before the death, and the family’s own wrongful death claim is unaffected.
Are the two claims really separate?
Yes, and by statute. Code of Civil Procedure 377.61 says a wrongful death award “may not include damages recoverable under Section 377.34”. Most families are entitled to bring both and are told about one.
A city or county vehicle was involved. Does that change anything?
Substantially. A written claim has to be presented to that entity within six months of the death before any lawsuit is possible, rather than the two years that applies to a private defendant. Identifying the right entity is the first task and it is often not the one whose name is on the vehicle.
I am undocumented. Can our family bring a claim without putting ourselves at risk?
Yes, and the protection is stronger than most people expect. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of a person’s immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either.
Who can bring a wrongful death claim in California?
Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 sets out who may file, and it is a defined list rather than a question of who was closest to the person. A surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and the children come first. Where there is no surviving spouse, partner or child, it passes to those who would inherit under intestate succession. Parents are in a different position from the one most people expect: they may file where they were dependent on the person who died, and dependency has to be shown rather than assumed. Certain others who were financially dependent, including a putative spouse, stepchildren and parents, can also qualify. If you are unsure whether you are on the list, that is a question worth asking early, because the answer decides who has to be involved in the claim.
How long do these cases usually take?
Longer than families expect, and the reasons are mostly outside anyone’s control: a criminal or coroner’s investigation may run alongside, multiple insurers may be involved, and where more than one family member has standing the claim has to be brought as a single action rather than several. What does not have to wait is the beginning. Evidence has a shelf life, and where a public entity is involved the six-month written claim is a hard deadline regardless of what else is unresolved.
Contact a Culver Legal Bakersfield Wrongful Death Lawyer
If a public entity is anywhere in what happened, the deadline is six months from the date of death and it runs whether or not anyone has told you about it. Everything else can wait. If your family lost someone in Bakersfield or Kern County, reach us at (310) 600-7881, at any hour. The conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
