Who can file a wrongful death claim in California?
Two distinct claims usually arise from a death caused by negligence. They compensate different losses, belong to different parties, and are almost always filed together.
01Standing under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60
The statute sets an order of priority rather than an open field.
- A surviving spouse or registered domestic partner
- Children, and the children of deceased children
- Parents, where there is no surviving spouse or issue
- Certain dependent minors who lived in the household
- Siblings and other next of kin, in limited circumstances
02The survival action
The estate may pursue the claim the decedent held at death: pre-death medical expenses, lost earnings, and — under current California law — pre-death pain and suffering. Punitive damages, where the conduct supports them, are recoverable through the survival action rather than the wrongful death claim.
03What families recover
Wrongful death damages include the financial support the decedent would have provided, the value of lost household services, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, guidance, and moral support. Grief alone is not a recoverable category, which is why the relationship must be proven with the same care as the economics.
This article is general information about California and Nevada law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of each matter; prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.