Hi, my name is Matt Eason. I’ve been practicing personal injury and wrongful death law here in the Sacramento area for 25 years. In this video, we will address one common question: who can file a wrongful death claim in California?
Please click here to view the video.
The question of who has the right to bring a death claim in California depends on whether or not that claim is for wrongful death brought before the traditional court system or it’s a claim for someone who passed away and brought in the workers’ compensation system. Workers’ compensation has its own unique rules that we’ll talk about at the end of this video. Still, for a wrongful death claim that arises traditionally out of a car accident, truck accident, or medical malpractice claim, the law is pretty strict in California as far as who has the right to bring that claim.
From a hyper-technical standpoint, wrongful death claims are intended to be brought by the estate of the person who passed away. Consequently, if a probate estate is opened, then the probate representative or the probate executor is the person best suited to bring a wrongful death claim. However, not everybody needs to open a probate estate. Consequently, if a probate estate has not been opened, then the heirs of succession under the customary probate law have standing or have the right to bring a wrongful death action.
In plain English, the spouse or the registered domestic partner has the kind of priority of bringing a wrongful death action. Likewise, children of the decedent or grandchildren, if the children have passed away, have the right to bring a wrongful death action. If the person who passed away did not have a spouse or registered domestic partner or did not have children, then the rules of who can bring a wrongful death action go through the probate’s standard lines. It goes to siblings, nieces, and nephews in a particular order of priority.
One of the unique things about a wrongful death action in California, however, is that all heirs to the claim should be named in the claim or lawsuit. Even though they may not wish to proceed, they technically have rights that need adjudication and confirm that they don’t want to proceed. Additionally, there are a few other nuances about people dependent upon the person who passed away as to whether they have the right to bring an action. In particular, minors such as stepchildren may have standing in some cases to bring in action.
The workers’ compensation side of the equation is much broader. You don’t have to be married or a registered domestic partner. Simply being a dependent of the decedent may give you standing or the right to bring a death claim under the workers’ compensation statutes.
California law continues to evolve to try and expand the scope as to who has the right to bring the wrongful death action and is no longer limited to just pure family members by blood. If you’re watching this video, then the odds are strong that someone that you loved has passed away.
Rather than rely on this video in particular, when there are many exceptions to these rules and new ones being created regularly in California, I hope you’ll consider contacting one of our wrongful death lawyer in Sacramento for a free consultation. Review your relationship with the deceased person and see if you have a valid claim.
