More people can bring a wrongful death claim in California than most families are told, and some of them are not blood relatives.
If you have been told you have no claim because you were a stepchild, because you were not legally married, or because you were not the closest relative, that may not be right. The statute is wider than the summary version of it.
Culver Legal, LLP acts for families across Long Beach on contingency, with case costs advanced. There is nothing to pay up front and no fee unless we win. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Claim in California
Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 sets out who may assert the claim, either directly or through the estate’s personal representative on their behalf.
The first group, under subdivision (a). The surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and the issue of deceased children. Where there is no surviving issue, the claim instead belongs to the people who would be entitled to the deceased person’s property by intestate succession, which can include the spouse or domestic partner. And where the parents would be entitled but have themselves died, the legal guardians may bring the claim as if they were the parents.
The second group, under subdivision (b), where they were dependent on the person who died. This applies whether or not they qualify under the first group, and it covers a putative spouse, children of the putative spouse, stepchildren, parents, or legal guardians where the parents have died.
The statute defines a putative spouse as the surviving spouse of a void or voidable marriage who the court finds believed in good faith that the marriage was valid.
The third group, under subdivision (c), and this is the one nobody mentions. A minor may bring a claim, whether or not they qualify under either group above, if at the time of the death they had lived in the household for the previous 180 days and depended on the person who died for half or more of their support.
Read that last one again if a child was living in the home. It does not require a biological or legal relationship. It requires residence and dependency, and it is the provision that decides whether some families have a claim at all.
Domestic partner means a registered domestic partnership under Family Code section 297(b), with a separate route for deaths before January 1, 2002.
Told you are not entitled to bring a claim?
Stepchildren, putative spouses and dependent minors in the household can all be within the statute. It costs nothing to have it checked.
Why It Matters Who Is on the Claim Before It Is Filed
Because the statute reaches beyond the immediate family, working out the full list of people entitled to bring the claim is something to do before anything is filed rather than afterwards.
Getting it wrong in either direction causes problems: somebody entitled who was left out, or an assumption that a person had no standing when the statute gave them some. On a family that includes stepchildren, a partner who was not legally married, or a child who was being supported without a formal relationship, that question is not academic.
How Long Do You Have?
Two years from the date of death under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Six months if a public entity is involved, under Government Code 911.2, to present a written claim. In Long Beach that claim is filed with the City Clerk, 411 West Ocean Blvd. Separately, Government Code 945.4 bars a lawsuit for money damages until the claim has been presented and the entity has either acted on it or is treated as having rejected it, which happens automatically after 45 days of no decision, and under Government Code 912.4 a claim is deemed rejected if the city does nothing for 45 days.
And presenting the claim is not the last deadline. Once the entity mails or delivers a written rejection, Government Code 945.6 gives you six months from the date of that notice to file suit. If the entity never sends a written rejection, the period is two years from when the cause of action accrued instead. A claim that is ignored therefore leaves more time than one that is formally rejected, which is the opposite of what most people expect.
Six months is a very short time for a grieving family, and it applies where a city vehicle, a public road defect, a public employee or public property was involved in the death. It is the reason to ask early even when nothing about the situation feels urgent yet.
And if that six months has already gone, ask anyway. Under Government Code 911.4 a written application can be made for permission to present a late claim, within a reasonable time and no more than one year after the claim arose. Under Government Code 911.6 the board shall grant it where one of several grounds applies, and one of those grounds is that the person who was injured died before the six months expired. That is a wrongful death fact pattern by definition, and families are regularly told the deadline is absolute when the statute provides for exactly this situation.
Two further grounds matter here and are easy to miss, because they are the ones most people actually fall under. Government Code 911.6(b) also requires the application to be granted where the injured person was a minor for any part of the six months, or was physically or mentally incapacitated for any part of it, provided the application is made within six months of them turning eighteen or of the incapacity ending, or a year after the claim accrued, whichever comes first.
What a Claim Can Cover
A wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family for their own losses rather than the deceased person’s. Broadly, that covers:
- Financial support the person would have provided, over the period they would have provided it.
- Funeral and burial expenses.
- The value of household services they contributed, which is routinely undercounted.
- **The loss of their love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society and moral support.**
The last of those is not a formality. It is frequently the substantial part of a claim, and putting it properly before an insurer or a jury is much of the work.
Where Would the Case Be Heard?
At the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia. Since October 2022 the Los Angeles Superior Court has assigned newly filed personal injury cases to the judicial district where the incident arose, so a death occurring in Long Beach is heard in Long Beach, before a jury drawn from here. A claim seeking more than $35,000 is an unlimited civil case.
We can take the next step for you
The review costs nothing and commits you to nothing. If a public entity was involved, the deadline is six months.
Long Beach Wrongful Death FAQs
Who can sue for wrongful death in California?
More people than the short answer suggests. Under Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 the claim may be brought by the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, instead by those who would be entitled to the property by intestate succession. It also extends, where they were financially dependent on the person who died, to a putative spouse, the children of a putative spouse, stepchildren, parents, and legal guardians where the parents have died. And separately, a minor who lived in the household for the 180 days before the death and depended on the deceased for at least half their support may bring a claim whether or not they are related. The claim can also be asserted by the estate’s personal representative on behalf of those entitled.
Who pays the money in a wrongful death lawsuit?
An insurer rather than an individual, in the ordinary case. Depending on how the death happened that may be an auto liability policy, a commercial or business policy, a homeowner’s policy, a contractor’s policy, or a public entity’s own coverage. Families hesitate because they do not want to pursue a person directly, and what a claim like this usually reaches is a policy that exists for exactly this purpose. Where there is no insurance, whether a claim is worth bringing is a question we will answer honestly.
I was a stepchild. Do I have a claim?
Possibly yes, and it turns on dependency rather than on the relationship label. Section 377.60 includes stepchildren where they were dependent on the person who died, whether or not they would qualify under the ordinary family categories. This is a common reason a person is wrongly told they have no claim.
We were together for years but never married. Can I bring a claim?
Then the question is whether you fall within the statute’s definition of a domestic partner, meaning a registered domestic partnership, or of a putative spouse, meaning the surviving spouse of a void or voidable marriage who the court finds believed in good faith that the marriage was valid. These are narrow definitions and the answer depends on the specific circumstances, which is exactly why it is worth asking rather than assuming.
How long do we have to bring a claim?
Two years from the date of death in the ordinary case. Six months where a public entity is involved, and that shorter deadline is for presenting a written claim, filed in Long Beach with the City Clerk. If a city vehicle, a public road or a public employee had any part in the death, that is the deadline that applies, and it runs from the incident rather than from when the family feels ready.
What does it cost to ask?
Nothing. Wrongful death claims are handled on contingency, so the fee is a percentage of any recovery and there is no fee if there is no recovery, with case costs advanced rather than billed to the family as they arise.
Contact a Culver Legal Long Beach Wrongful Death Lawyer
If you have been told you are not entitled to bring a claim, it is worth having that checked against the statute rather than accepted. And if a public entity was involved, the deadline is six months rather than two years. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour. The review costs 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.
