California limits wrongful-death claims to the people identified in Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60. Depending on the family circumstances, those people may include a surviving spouse or qualifying domestic partner, the decedent’s children, descendants of a deceased child, certain intestate successors, specified people who depended on the decedent, qualifying household minors, and certain legal guardians. A personal representative may bring the action on their behalf.
Eligibility warning: A family label by itself does not always answer who may file. Parentage, adoption, dependency, household history, guardianship, and California’s intestate-succession rules can change the result. This page provides general information, not a determination that any person has standing to sue.
Who may file a California wrongful-death lawsuit?
| Potential claimant or filing route | What California law requires |
|---|---|
| Surviving spouse or qualifying domestic partner | These categories are named directly in section 377.60(a). A domestic partner must meet the definition in section 377.60(f). |
| Children and issue of a deceased child | The decedent’s legally recognized children qualify. Descendants of a child are named when that intervening child is deceased. |
| Intestate successors | This route opens only when the decedent left no surviving issue. The claimant must fall within the class or classes entitled under California’s intestate-succession statutes; the actual will and the actual existence or character of estate property do not necessarily control. |
| Dependent putative spouse, child of a putative spouse, stepchild, parent, or qualifying legal guardian | Each person in this section 377.60(b) group must have depended on the decedent. A putative spouse also must meet the good-faith invalid-marriage definition. |
| Qualifying household minor | Whether or not the minor also qualifies under section 377.60(a) or (b), the minor must have lived in the decedent’s household for the previous 180 days and depended on the decedent for at least half of the minor’s support. |
| Certain legal guardians | If the decedent’s parents are deceased and would have qualified under section 377.60(a), the decedent’s legal guardians may proceed as if they were the parents. A separate dependency route may also apply when the parents are deceased. |
| Personal representative | An executor, administrator, or other qualifying personal representative may assert the wrongful-death action on behalf of the eligible claimants. The appointment does not make that representative a new beneficiary. |
This table is a screening summary, not an eligibility calculator. More than one category may need to be evaluated, and the family tree alone may not resolve dependency, parentage, guardianship, or intestate succession.
Spouses, domestic partners, children, and descendants
A surviving spouse and a person who met section 377.60(f)’s definition of the decedent’s domestic partner at the time of death are named in section 377.60(a). This is a legal status; living together or describing someone as a partner does not, by itself, establish it.
The statute also names the decedent’s children and the issue of a deceased child. A child is not excluded merely because the child is an adult or financially independent. A grandchild does not qualify under the “issue of deceased children” language merely because of the grandparent-grandchild relationship; the child connecting the grandchild to the decedent must also be deceased.
California law recognizes parent-child relationships involving natural and adopting parents, but adoption and disputed-parentage histories can affect the legal analysis. A lawyer should review those records rather than relying only on a biological or household relationship. Stepchildren are addressed separately because the statute expressly places dependent stepchildren in a dependency-based category.
Who may qualify when the decedent left no surviving issue?
If the decedent left no surviving issue, section 377.60(a) extends eligibility to the people who would be entitled to the decedent’s property by intestate succession. “Issue” generally refers to lineal descendants, such as children and further descendants.
The intestate-succession route is not a general right for every relative or “next of kin.” Probate Code section 6401 addresses a surviving spouse’s share, and Probate Code section 6402 provides an order that can reach parents, issue of parents, grandparents or their issue, and more remote categories only when earlier categories do not take. The analysis turns on the full family structure and the class or classes entitled under those statutes, rather than on who received property under a will or the actual existence or character of the decedent’s estate.
A will does not automatically decide wrongful-death standing. The statute asks who would take under intestate succession, even if the decedent left a will with different beneficiaries.
Which people must establish dependency?
Section 377.60(b) identifies a separate group that must have depended on the decedent: a putative spouse, a child of the putative spouse, a stepchild, a parent, or—if the decedent’s parents are deceased—a legal guardian. The statute does not assign this entire group a universal 50-percent test. The nature and extent of dependency require a fact-specific legal review.
Putative spouses and their children
A putative spouse is not simply an unmarried partner. The court must find that the person believed in good faith that a void or voidable marriage to the decedent was valid, and the person must also have depended on the decedent. A child of a putative spouse must likewise establish the dependency required by subdivision (b).
Stepchildren
A stepchild is not automatically treated as the decedent’s child for this statute. Section 377.60(b) expressly allows a dependent stepchild to qualify. Unusual adoption, parentage, or intestacy facts can require a separate analysis.
Parents
A parent may have two different paths. First, if the decedent left no surviving issue, a parent may qualify if the parent falls within a class entitled under California’s intestate-succession rules. Second, a parent who depended on the decedent may qualify under section 377.60(b). Because the first path depends on intestate succession, Probate Code section 6452 may bar it when parental rights were terminated and not judicially reestablished, the parent did not acknowledge the child, or the statute’s abandonment conditions are met. The dependency route under section 377.60(b) is a separate analysis. The current statute does not say that all parents qualify only when there is no surviving spouse or child.
The 180-day household-minor rule
Section 377.60(c) provides a separate route for a minor whether or not the minor also qualifies under subdivision (a) or (b). At the time of death, the minor must have lived in the decedent’s household for the previous 180 days and depended on the decedent for one-half or more of the minor’s support. A foster-child, ward, or other household label does not replace those statutory facts.
When may a legal guardian file?
California added specific legal-guardian language to section 377.60 in 2020. It creates two limited routes:
- If the decedent’s parents are deceased and those parents would have qualified under section 377.60(a), the decedent’s legal guardians may bring the action as if they were the parents.
- If the decedent’s parents are deceased, a legal guardian who depended on the decedent may qualify under section 377.60(b).
These provisions do not make every former caregiver or guardian eligible. They also concern the decedent’s legal guardian, not a guardian ad litem appointed to represent a minor during litigation. A guardian ad litem’s procedural appointment does not create a personal wrongful-death claim.
What does a personal representative do?
The decedent’s personal representative may bring the wrongful-death action on behalf of the people entitled to assert it. The representative may be an executor, administrator, or another probate representative recognized by California law. Appointment to that role does not make the representative independently eligible for compensation and does not expand the statutory claimant classes.
A wrongful-death claim is also different from a survival action. Wrongful death compensates losses suffered by the people authorized under section 377.60. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.30, a cause of action that survives death may be commenced by the decedent’s personal representative or, if there is none, the decedent’s successor in interest. Section 377.62 allows the two causes of action to be joined or consolidated when they arise from the same wrongful act or neglect, but they should not be described as the same claim or as belonging to the same people for the same losses.
What happens when several people may qualify?
California ordinarily requires the eligible claimants’ wrongful-death claims to be handled together rather than through a series of separate lawsuits against the same defendant. Each claimant’s loss is personal, and Code of Civil Procedure section 377.61 states that the court determines the entitled persons’ respective rights in an award.
Potential claimants should be identified early. A person who will not join voluntarily can create procedural, settlement, allocation, and conflict-of-interest questions that counsel should address before the case advances.
Common questions about California wrongful-death eligibility
Can an adult child file?
Yes, an adult child is not excluded because of age or financial independence. The legal parent-child relationship still must be established if it is disputed.
Can an adopted child file?
Yes. California recognizes a parent-child relationship between an adopted person and the adopting parent or parents. Adoption can also affect a prior natural parent-child relationship, so the adoption history should be reviewed if eligibility is uncertain.
Can a stepchild file?
A stepchild may qualify under section 377.60(b) if the stepchild depended on the decedent. Being a stepchild alone does not satisfy that subdivision. Rare intestacy or parentage circumstances require separate analysis.
Can a parent file?
Possibly. A parent may qualify as an intestate successor if the decedent left no surviving issue and the succession rules reach that parent. A parent who depended on the decedent may have a separate route under section 377.60(b). A surviving spouse does not, by itself, answer both questions.
Can a sibling file?
A sibling is not an independently named category. A sibling may qualify through intestate succession only if the decedent left no surviving issue and the statutory order actually reaches the sibling in that family structure.
Can a grandchild file?
The statute names the issue of a deceased child. A grandchild may therefore qualify when the grandchild’s parent—the decedent’s child—is also deceased. Other succession facts may require additional analysis.
Can an unmarried partner or fiancé file?
Cohabitation, engagement, or a long-term relationship alone is not a statutory category. A domestic partner who meets section 377.60(f)’s definition may qualify directly. A dependent putative spouse may qualify only if a court finds the required good-faith belief in a marriage that was void or voidable.
Can the executor or administrator file?
A qualifying personal representative may assert the wrongful-death action on behalf of the eligible people. The representative does not become a wrongful-death beneficiary merely because of the appointment, and will beneficiaries are not automatically eligible.
Does the person named in a will decide who may recover?
No. Section 377.60 determines who may assert a wrongful-death claim. When the statute uses intestate succession, it asks who would inherit without a will rather than who was selected as a beneficiary in the actual will.
How long do eligible claimants have to act?
Eligibility and timing are separate questions. Many California wrongful-death claims are subject to a two-year period, but public-entity, medical-negligence, minor, conviction, discovery, and other rules can change or shorten the analysis. Review GJEL’s separate guide to the California wrongful-death statute of limitations and obtain case-specific advice promptly.
Official California sources
- Code of Civil Procedure §377.60 — who may assert a wrongful-death claim
- Code of Civil Procedure §377.61 — court determination of claimants’ rights in an award
- Probate Code §6401 — surviving spouse’s intestate share
- Probate Code §6402 — intestate-succession order
- Probate Code §6450 — recognized parent-child relationships
- Probate Code §6451 — effect of adoption on the natural parent-child relationship
- Probate Code §6452 — circumstances barring a parent from inheriting
- Probate Code §6453 — determining a natural parent-child relationship
- Probate Code §6454 — certain foster-parent and stepparent relationships
- Family Code §297 — registered domestic partnerships
- Family Code §299.2 — recognition of substantially equivalent nonmarital legal unions formed in other jurisdictions
- AB 2445 (2020) — legal-guardian amendment
- Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions, 2026 edition, CACI Nos. 3921–3922
Statutory sources checked August 31, 2026. The governing law and case-specific facts should be confirmed before anyone relies on a general eligibility summary.
Discuss your family’s circumstances with GJEL
GJEL’s California wrongful-death attorneys can review the family relationships, dependency evidence, probate status, and potential claimants involved in a specific case. You can also read about the elements of a California wrongful-death claim or request a free case review without relying on an automated eligibility result.