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California Wrongful Death Attorneys
Los Angeles Wrongful Death Lawyer
When a family member dies because of someone else’s wrongful conduct, California law may allow eligible survivors to seek compensation for what the death took from them. The Law Offices of Burg & Brock investigate who was responsible, what insurance and assets exist, and what your family has actually lost.
Speaking with us costs nothing and commits your family to nothing.
Cameron Yadidi Brock
- Role
- Founding Attorney
- Bar
- California #183112
- Since
- Practicing 1996
- 1996Practicing since
- Sherman OaksLos Angeles County office
- No FeeUnless there is a recovery
- FreeConfidential case review
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Reviewed by Cameron Yadidi BrockFounding Attorney, Law Offices of Burg & Brock · California State Bar #183112 · Admitted 1996
The Short Answer
What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in California?
A wrongful death claim can arise when a person dies because of the wrongful act or neglect of someone else. It belongs to eligible surviving family members, and it compensates them for what the death took from them.
The word most people expect here is negligence, and negligence is the most common route. It is not the only one. The underlying conduct can be a range of legally actionable wrongs depending on what happened, which is why the first question in any case is what actually occurred rather than which label fits it.
The claim is also separate from any criminal case. A prosecution may run alongside it, or may never happen at all, and neither outcome decides the civil claim.
Standing
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in California?
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides this, and it does not work as a queue. There is no rule that the spouse comes first, then parents, then siblings. Standing works as separate routes, and which routes are open depends on the family.
Route one
Spouse, partner and children
- Surviving spouse
- Domestic partner
- Children
- Issue of deceased children
The statute names these together. None of them ranks above another.
Route two
Certain intestate heirs
- Those who would inherit under California succession law
- Commonly parents
- Siblings, where no parent survives
- More distant relatives in narrower circumstances
Opens only where the person left no surviving issue — no children, and no issue of deceased children.
Route three
Certain dependents
- A putative spouse and their children
- Stepchildren
- Parents
- Legal guardians in defined circumstances
Requires actual dependency. Parents can qualify here whether or not they qualify under the routes above.
Route four
A qualifying dependent minor
- Lived in the person’s household
- For the 180 days before the death
- And depended on them for at least half of their support
Both conditions are required. This is the only category the statute defines with a support fraction.
Two things families are often told that are wrong
A surviving spouse does not shut everyone else out. What closes the intestate route is surviving issue, not a surviving spouse. Where someone leaves a husband or wife but no children, parents may have standing alongside that spouse.
And a surviving child does close that route. Where there are children, parents, siblings and grandparents have no claim through succession, however close the relationship was.
Whether a particular relative has standing is a legal question, not a measure of how close the family was. Please do not assume eligibility in either direction from the relationship alone.
Where several family members may qualify, California treats wrongful death as a single action rather than separate lawsuits. That makes it worth establishing early who the proper parties are and how the claim should be structured.
Proving the Case
What Must Be Proven in a California Wrongful Death Case?
Four things. The first changes shape depending on how the death happened.
Wrongful conduct
A wrongful act or neglect by another person or company. Usually negligence, but the correct legal theory depends on the facts.
Causation
A link between that conduct and the death, established by evidence rather than assumed from the sequence of events.
Death and standing
The death itself, and the relationship or dependency that gives a survivor the right to sue.
Recoverable loss
The specific losses California law allows eligible survivors to recover, set out below.
Damages
What Damages Can Be Recovered in a California Wrongful Death Case?
California divides them into economic losses, which have a financial measure, and noneconomic losses, which cover the relationship itself.
Economic losses
Noneconomic losses
A distinction the law draws, and what it does not mean
California does not treat grief or sorrow as a damage category in its own right. Read cold, that sounds as though the law is indifferent to the hardest part of losing someone. It is not what it means.
What the law measures is the relationship rather than the mourning. The love, the companionship, the care, the guidance, the protection — everything the person actually provided and would have gone on providing — is squarely part of the claim, and in many cases it is the larger part of it. What cannot be presented as a separate line item is the family’s own grief, sorrow or mental anguish.
The other thing a wrongful death claim does not include is what the person themselves went through before they died. That belongs to a different claim, explained next.
Two Different Claims
What Is the Difference Between a Wrongful Death Claim and a Survival Action?
They are separate claims, they belong to different people, and depending on the circumstances a family may need both evaluated. Not every death produces both.
Wrongful death
- Whose claim
- The eligible surviving family members’.
- Who brings it
- Those with standing under section 377.60, or a representative on their behalf.
- What it measures
- What the survivors lost because of the death.
- Typical elements
- Financial support, household services, funeral and burial costs, and the relational losses above.
- Where a recovery goes
- Apportioned by the court among the eligible claimants.
Survival action
- Whose claim
- The person who died. It survives them.
- Who brings it
- The estate’s personal representative, or a qualifying successor in interest.
- What it measures
- Losses the person had already sustained before death, such as medical costs and lost earnings.
- Punitive damages
- Can be available here in appropriate cases, unlike in the wrongful death claim.
- Where a recovery goes
- It is an asset of the estate and passes under the will or by intestacy.
Important if you are reading older material online
Between 2022 and the end of 2025, California temporarily allowed a survival action to recover the pain, suffering and disfigurement the person experienced before they died. That authorisation applied to cases filed within that window, and it expired on 1 January 2026. A bill that would have extended it did not pass.
A great deal of material online still describes the temporary rule as current, and the expired provision is still printed in the statute because it continues to govern cases filed earlier. Neither means it is available for a claim filed today. The filing date controls, not the date of the death.
Any discussion of survival damages in a specific case should be checked against the current statute and the date the claim would actually be filed.
Cases We Handle
Wrongful Death Cases We Handle
The firm’s work centres on serious injury and fatal incidents involving vehicles, dangerous property and defective products.
Where a public entity may share responsibility — a dangerous roadway, a public vehicle, public property — the deadlines are far shorter than the ordinary two years. That is covered in the deadlines section below.
Responsibility
Can More Than One Person or Company Be Responsible?
Sometimes, depending on the facts. A complete investigation should identify every person or entity whose conduct may have contributed to the death, rather than stopping at the most obvious one.
This is not a list of parties responsible in every case. It is a list of where the evidence sometimes leads. Identifying them early matters, because it also determines what insurance is available to pay a claim.
Evidence
Evidence That Can Matter in a Wrongful Death Case
Four groups, gathered at different speeds. Some of this a family already has. Most of it is our job, not yours.
The Incident
- Photographs and video
- Police and investigation records
- Witness accounts
- Physical evidence
- Vehicle and electronic data
Responsibility
- Vehicle and maintenance records
- Business and employment records
- Product and design evidence
- Property and inspection records
- Records specific to the type of case
Financial Loss
- Employment and earnings history
- Tax records where appropriate
- Benefits and pension information
- Household contributions
- History of financial support
The Relationship
- Evidence relevant to the legally recognised relational losses, and to the family’s circumstances
Why this comes up earlier than families expect
Some evidence has a short life. Vehicle data gets overwritten, surveillance footage is recycled on a cycle measured in days or weeks, commercial records follow retention schedules, and damaged vehicles and products get repaired, scrapped or returned.
None of that is an accusation that anyone destroys evidence deliberately. It is ordinary business practice running on its own timetable, regardless of what a family is going through. Early legal involvement is largely about identifying what needs preserving before that happens.
Financial Loss
How Is Lost Financial Support Evaluated?
By looking at what the person actually contributed, and what they would reasonably have gone on contributing.
The factors usually include earnings history, the stage and trajectory of a career, age, health, employment and benefits, expected future contributions to the family, and life expectancy considerations for both the person who died and the survivors. In substantial cases an economist may be involved. That is not necessary in every case, and it is not something a family needs to arrange.
Household services count too
Economic contribution is not only wages. The reasonable value of the household services the person would have provided can form part of the claim — childcare, maintenance, transport, meal preparation, and the rest of what someone does for a family. Not every activity is automatically compensable, but this element is routinely undervalued and deserves proper attention.
Can a claim have value if the person was not the main earner?
Yes, potentially. Framing a wrongful death claim purely around income misses both the household services and the relational losses, which for a parent at home, a retired person or a child are usually where the substance of the claim sits. Income is one input. It is not the measure.
Death of a Child
Wrongful Death of a Child
California recognises that parents suffer real and compensable losses when a child dies. The analysis differs from a wage-based calculation for an employed adult, and the law approaches it through its own jury instruction rather than the general one.
In practice that means the claim centres on the relationship — the love, companionship, comfort, care, protection and affection a parent has lost — rather than on projected earnings. We are not going to put a figure on that here, and we would be sceptical of anyone who did.
After a Death
What Should Our Family Do?
Roughly in this order. Most of it can wait longer than people fear.
- 01Look after your family first
Nothing further down this list matters more than that.
- 02Keep what already exists
Reports, names, photographs. You do not need to go out gathering.
- 03Keep communications from insurers
Letters, emails, voicemails. Keep them rather than answering them.
- 04Keep funeral and burial records
These are a recoverable expense.
- 05Keep financial and employment information
Payslips, benefits, tax documents, when it is convenient.
- 06Do not sign a release you have not understood
A final release can end a claim permanently.
- 07Find out which deadline applies
Especially where a public entity may be involved.
- 08Get advice if another party may be responsible
Early enough that the evidence still exists.
Insurers
What If an Insurance Company Contacts the Family?
It usually happens quickly, often within days, and usually politely.
Before signing a release, a settlement or a broad authorisation, or giving a substantive recorded statement, it is worth being clear on three things: who is asking, whom they represent, and what the document or statement may affect. A broad medical authorisation is not the same as a limited one. A release is usually final.
Most people making that call are doing their job. That does not make their job the same as protecting your family’s interests, and there is no obligation to give a statement before understanding what it is for.
Our Process
How Burg & Brock Investigates a Wrongful Death Case
- 01Understand what happened
The sequence, from the people who were there and the records that exist.
- 02Identify who has standing
Which family members California law allows to bring the claim.
- 03Preserve evidence
Before retention schedules and repairs remove it.
- 04Determine liability
Whose conduct contributed, on the evidence rather than the assumption.
- 05Identify every responsible party
Including businesses, manufacturers and public entities.
- 06Identify insurance and assets
Every policy that could apply, not only the obvious one.
- 07Document the economic loss
Support, benefits and household services, with records.
- 08Document the relational losses
The parts of the claim that are not on a payslip.
- 09Evaluate both possible claims
Wrongful death and, where it applies, a survival action.
- 10Negotiate, and litigate where necessary
Built on documents rather than adjectives.
Deadlines
How Long Does a Family Have?
California generally allows two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
*Two years is not a safe assumption. When a claim accrues can itself be contested, and several situations change the period entirely.
If a public entity may be responsible, act far sooner. Where a city, county, state agency or other public body may share responsibility — a dangerous roadway, a public vehicle, public property — an administrative claim generally has to be presented within six months, long before any lawsuit is filed. Miss that step and the claim can be lost regardless of how strong it was.
Medical negligence, particular defendants and other circumstances carry their own rules. The only reliable way to know which deadline applies to your family is to have someone look at the specific facts, early.
Case Value
How Much Is a Wrongful Death Case Worth?
No responsible online calculator can answer that for an individual family, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What it actually depends on: liability and how clearly it can be established; the financial support and household services lost; the family relationships and what they involved; life expectancy considerations; the insurance and assets available to pay; whether more than one party is responsible; the strength of the evidence; the other recoverable losses; and whether the case has to be litigated.
Anyone quoting an average wrongful death settlement is describing a statistic that has nothing to do with your family.
The Attorney Responsible for This Page
Cameron Yadidi Brock
- California State Bar#183112 · licence active
- AdmittedJune 1996
- PracticePersonal injury and wrongful death, plaintiff representation
- OfficeSherman Oaks, Los Angeles County
Cameron Yadidi Brock has been licensed to practice law in California since June 1996 and founded the Law Offices of Burg & Brock in Sherman Oaks. He represents families in wrongful death matters and people injured in motor vehicle collisions and other serious-injury cases.
Why Families Come to Burg & Brock
- 01Personal injury and wrongful death is the practice
Not a department inside a general firm.
- 02Practising in California since 1996
Nearly thirty years of licence, verifiable through the State Bar.
- 03Serious and catastrophic injury experience
Including commercial vehicle, product and dangerous property matters.
- 04Contingency representation
Attorney fees are generally tied to obtaining a recovery, under a written fee agreement that sets the actual terms.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What legally qualifies as wrongful death in California?
A death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another person or entity. Negligence is the most common basis but not the only one, and the correct legal theory depends on how the death happened.
Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in California?
Section 377.60 sets out the categories: a surviving spouse or domestic partner, children, and the issue of deceased children; where there is no surviving issue, those who would inherit under California succession law; and certain dependents including a putative spouse, stepchildren, parents and qualifying guardians. A dependent minor who lived in the household for the 180 days before the death and relied on the person for at least half of their support may also qualify. Standing is a legal question and is not decided by closeness of relationship.
Can parents file after the death of an adult child?
Potentially, by either of two routes. If the child left no surviving issue, parents may have standing through California succession law. Separately, parents who were financially dependent on their child may qualify as dependents, whether or not the first route is open to them.
Can siblings file a wrongful death claim?
Only in narrow circumstances. A sibling would need to be someone who inherits under California succession law, which generally requires that the person left no surviving issue and no surviving parent. There is no separate dependency route for siblings.
Can a stepchild file a wrongful death claim?
A stepchild may qualify, but through the dependency category rather than automatically as a child. That requires showing actual dependency on the person who died.
What if several family members have the right to bring the claim?
California treats wrongful death as a single action rather than separate lawsuits by each relative, and the court apportions any recovery among those entitled to it. Where more than one person may qualify, it is worth establishing early who the proper parties are and how the claim is structured.
Can we recover damages for grief and sorrow?
Not as a separate category of its own. California measures the relationship rather than the mourning, so the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, protection, guidance and society is squarely recoverable, and it is often the larger part of a claim. What cannot be presented as its own line item is the family’s grief, sorrow or mental anguish.
What is the difference between wrongful death and a survival action?
A wrongful death claim belongs to the eligible surviving family members and covers what they lost. A survival action continues a claim that belonged to the person before they died, and is brought by the estate’s representative or a qualifying successor. They are different claims, and any recovery goes to different places — the survival recovery is an asset of the estate.
Can both claims exist in the same case?
Sometimes, but not automatically. Whether a survival action exists alongside the wrongful death claim depends on the circumstances and needs to be evaluated on the specific facts.
Can punitive damages be recovered?
Generally not in the wrongful death claim itself, which is compensatory in nature. Punitive damages can be available in a survival action in appropriate cases. This is fact-specific and is not something to assume in either direction.
How long do we have to file?
Generally two years under section 335.1, but that is not a safe assumption. If a public entity may be responsible, an administrative claim generally has to be presented within six months. Other circumstances change the period as well, which is why the deadline should be checked against the specific facts early.
What if a government entity may have caused the death?
The Government Claims Act applies. It requires an administrative claim to be presented to the public entity before a lawsuit, generally within six months, and a further short period applies for filing suit once a rejection notice is sent. These deadlines are much earlier than the ordinary two years and are easy to miss.
What if there is a criminal case as well?
Criminal prosecution and a civil wrongful death claim are separate proceedings, with different parties and different standards of proof. A conviction is not required for a civil claim to succeed, and an acquittal does not automatically end one.
How much does a wrongful death lawyer cost?
Burg & Brock handle qualifying wrongful death matters on a contingency-fee basis, which means attorney fees are generally tied to obtaining a recovery. The written fee agreement sets the actual terms, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Related Services
Other Ways We Help
Motorcycle AccidentsRiders injured or killed by another party.
Uber & Lyft AccidentsRideshare claims and the coverage periods that decide them.
Brain & Spinal InjuriesCatastrophic injury representation.
Product LiabilityDefective products and components.
Serious InjuriesLife-changing injury claims.
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If your family has lost someone and another person or company may have been responsible, we can look at what happened, who may be accountable, what insurance exists, and what California law allows your family to recover.
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