Time limits on a wrongful death claim

The unwelcome thing first, because it is the one that costs families everything. The deadline does not wait for the criminal case, the coroner's report, the insurance investigation, or for anyone to feel ready. It runs from the death. This is general information, not legal advice.

The ordinary deadline

Two years, under the general limitations statute covering an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.

The date it runs from matters. For a wrongful death claim the period runs from the date of death, not from the date of the injury. Where someone is injured and dies months later, the survivors' claim is measured from the death — while the estate's survival action carries its own timing considerations.

Sources: Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1 (two years for an action for injury to, or the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another).

Six months where a public entity is involved

The deadline that actually ends these claims. Where a city, county, school district, transit agency, state agency, or any other public entity may share responsibility, a claim must be presented to that entity within six months of accrual. Miss it and the claim is generally over unless a late-claim application succeeds.

This reaches further than families expect. A road design or maintenance failure, a public transit vehicle, a government employee driving, a public hospital, a dangerous condition on public property — all of them put the six-month clock in play alongside the two-year one.

Sources: Gov. Code, § 911.2 (six months to present a claim for death or personal injury); § 945.6 (six months to sue after a written rejection; two years from accrual where no written rejection is given); § 912.4 (the board has 45 days to act; failure to act is a rejection by operation of law).

Do not wait for the criminal case

Where a death was caused by a crime — a DUI, a hit-and-run, an assault — families are routinely told, or assume, that the civil claim comes after the prosecution. It does not.

• The civil deadline runs regardless of the criminal timetable.
• A prosecution can easily run past two years through continuances and negotiation.
• You are a witness in the criminal case, not a party, and have no control over its pace.
• Evidence moves on the prosecution's schedule, not yours — vehicles get released, scenes cleared, records retained only so long.
• Restitution is not the civil claim and rarely produces a real recovery.

Hit by a drunk driver · hit-and-run crashes.

When the cause is not known at first

Sometimes the fact that a death was caused by someone else's conduct only emerges later — from an autopsy, a toxicology result, a product recall, or a records review that shows what happened in a hospital.

California law recognises a discovery principle in some circumstances, and medical negligence has its own limitations structure. But relying on discovery is a poor plan rather than a strategy: it is fact-specific, contested, and decided after the fact. The safe assumption is that the clock started at the death, with advice taken quickly if there is any reason to think the picture is incomplete.

Deadlines on a California injury claim — including the medical negligence rule and tolling generally.

Two claims, and the filing date now matters

The estate's survival action runs alongside the survivors' claim, and since January 1, 2026 the filing date changes what that claim can recover — the window allowing the decedent's pre-death pain, suffering, and disfigurement has closed. That is a reason to understand both claims early rather than treating the survival action as an afterthought.

Survival actions.

What to do in the first weeks

• Identify whether any public entity might share responsibility — and if there is any doubt, assume there might.
• Work out who the heirs are, since all of them belong in one action.
• Preserve evidence: vehicles, scene photographs, camera footage, records.
• Get the coroner's and any agency reports when available, without waiting for them to act.
• Take advice on the deadline specifically, and get the date in writing.

Common questions

How long do we have to bring a wrongful death claim?

Generally two years, running from the date of death rather than from the date of the injury that caused it. Where a public entity may be responsible, a claim must be presented within six months, which is the deadline that actually catches families out.

Should we wait for the criminal case to finish?

No. This is the single most expensive mistake in this area. The civil deadline runs on its own clock regardless of what a prosecution is doing, and a criminal case can easily outlast it. The two proceed independently.

We did not know for months what actually caused the death.

That happens, particularly where a cause emerges from an autopsy, a toxicology result, or a recall notice. California law recognises a discovery principle in some circumstances, but relying on it is a poor plan. Treat the date of death as the clock and get advice early.

Does the deadline pause for a minor child of the person who died?

Do not assume so. Minority tolling does not apply at all to a claim that must go through the government-claims process, and the interaction with a joint wrongful death action is not something to work out from a web page. It is a question to put to a lawyer immediately.