Wrongful death glossaryPlain words for the terms you will meet.

Our guides use these words because the statutes, court forms and insurance letters do. Each definition below is two or three sentences long. For the statutes and court decisions behind them, with the date the law was last checked, see our California wrongful death law page. The guides listed below explain each topic in full.

Related guides

• Los Angeles wrongful death lawyer: where to start, and how we help a family
• California wrongful death law: the statutes, jury instructions and cases, with the date checked
• Who can file a wrongful death claim: standing, dependents and putative spouses
• Survival actions: the estate's claim and the 2026 rule on pain and suffering
• Damages and how they are divided: what a claim can include and who decides the shares
• Wrongful death statute of limitations: the deadlines and when they start
• Claims against a city or county: the six month government claim and late claims
• Insurance after a fatal crash: policy limits, UM and UIM
• How a wrongful death case works: the steps from the first call to the end
• Death of a child and death of a parent: what changes for parents and for children
• Criminal case and civil claim: restitution, CalVCB and why the family need not wait
• Workplace and construction deaths: the exclusive remedy and death benefits
• Nursing home deaths: elder abuse and neglect
• Wrongful death documents checklist: death certificates, the Medical Examiner report and letters
• The first 48 hours: what to do in the first days

Sources cited

• Code of Civil Procedure, California Legislative Information: sections 335.1, 372, 377.11, 377.30 and 377.60
• Government Code, California Legislative Information: sections 911.2, 911.4 and 13957
• Civil Code section 3294, California Legislative Information: section 3294
• Probate Code, California Legislative Information: sections 3500 and 6402
• Insurance Code section 11580.2, California Legislative Information: section 11580.2
• Labor Code section 3600, California Legislative Information: section 3600
• Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2026 edition), CACI Nos. 3919, 3921 and 3922: courts.ca.gov
• Judicial Council form DE-150, Letters: California Courts Self-Help Guide
• County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner, frequently asked questions: me.lacounty.gov
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, who can obtain a death certificate copy: lavote.gov

Glossary terms

The terms below run in the order a family usually meets them, from the first days after a death to the end of a case. Each one has its own link, so a single definition can be shared.

Decedent

The legal word for the person who died. Court papers, insurance letters and the statutes use it; our guides usually say "the person who died."

Death certificate

The official record of a death, ordered from the county or city office that keeps death records where the death happened. Close relatives, the estate's attorney and a court-appointed representative can get authorized certified copies, and a certified copy must be attached to a successor in interest declaration. If the cause of death is still pending, the certificate may read "Deferred" until it is amended.

Medical Examiner

The county office that investigates certain deaths and issues a case report that includes the autopsy report and the investigation report. In Los Angeles County it is the Department of Medical Examiner, called the Coroner until 2023, and in Orange County it is the Sheriff-Coroner. In Los Angeles County, toxicology results take two to four months on average.

Wrongful death claim

The family's own claim for the losses a death causes them, brought by the people Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 names or by the personal representative on their behalf. It can include financial support, funeral and burial expenses and the loss of the person's love, companionship and care, but not the family's grief.

Survival action

The claim the person who died could have brought if they had lived, brought by the personal representative of the estate or, if there is none, by the successor in interest. A survival action filed on or after January 1, 2026 cannot recover the person's pain, suffering or disfigurement, except in qualifying elder or dependent adult abuse cases.

Heir

A family member with a legal stake after a death. In a wrongful death case it usually means a person who can bring the claim under section 377.60, and in probate it means a person who inherits when there is no will. Every known heir must be part of the one wrongful death case.

Standing

The legal right to bring a particular claim. For wrongful death, standing comes only from the categories in Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60, and closeness alone does not create it.

Intestate succession

The order of inheritance California law sets when a person dies without a will. After the spouse's share, the estate passes to descendants, then parents, then brothers and sisters and their descendants, then grandparents. If the person who died left no descendants, this order also decides who else can bring a wrongful death claim.

Registered domestic partner

A partner in a domestic partnership registered with the California Secretary of State at the time of the death. A registered domestic partner can bring a wrongful death claim on the same footing as a spouse; a partner who never registered or married can bring one only by fitting another category.

Putative spouse

A surviving partner whose marriage turned out to be void or voidable, whom the court finds believed in good faith that the marriage was valid. A putative spouse can bring a wrongful death claim if they were dependent on the person who died. Living together, even for many years, does not by itself make someone a putative spouse.

Dependent

In a wrongful death case, a person who relied on the one who died for financial support for necessities such as shelter, food, clothing and medical care; emotional closeness, or help that paid only for extras, is not enough. Parents, stepchildren and putative spouses can bring the claim by proving dependence, and workers' compensation has its own dependency rules.

Estate

What the person who died owned and the claims they held, which pass under a will or, without one, by intestate succession. The survival action belongs to the estate or the successor in interest, not to the heirs in their own right.

Probate

The Superior Court process for an estate after a death. Opening probate means asking a judge to appoint a personal representative. The survival action can be brought by a personal representative or, without one, by a successor in interest, so not every family needs to open probate for the claim.

Personal representative

The person a probate judge appoints to act for the estate of the person who died. The personal representative brings the survival action and can also file the wrongful death claim on the family's behalf.

Letters of administration

The court document that proves a judge appointed someone as the personal representative of an estate. In California it is Judicial Council form DE-150, titled Letters, issued by the Superior Court's probate division in the county where the estate was opened.

Successor in interest

The beneficiary of the estate, or another successor, who takes over the claim of the person who died (Code of Civil Procedure section 377.11). Without a personal representative, the successor in interest can bring the survival action by filing a declaration under penalty of perjury, with a certified death certificate, under section 377.32.

Nominal defendant

A family member who will not join the wrongful death case as a plaintiff and is named as a defendant instead, so that every heir is part of the one case. That heir must still be properly served; naming alone is not enough.

Guardian ad litem

An adult the court appoints to act for a minor, or for a person who lacks legal capacity, in a lawsuit. A guardian ad litem can negotiate a settlement for a child, but a judge must approve it. The court handling the case can appoint one for each child, without a separate guardianship first.

Minor's compromise

A settlement of a child's claim, which is valid only after a judge approves it. The judge decides how the child's money is held, for example in a blocked account, an annuity or a trust, often until the child turns 18. In a wrongful death case the full petition is required, not the shorter expedited form.

Statute of limitations

The deadline to file a lawsuit. Most California wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within two years of the date of death (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1), and some cases, including claims against a public entity, have different deadlines.

Accrual

The date a claim legally arises, which is when its deadlines start to run. A wrongful death claim usually accrues on the date of death; the estate's survival claim can accrue earlier, on the date of the injury.

Public entity

A city, a county, the State, a school district, a transit agency or another government body. A claim against a public entity starts with a written government claim, has its own deadlines, and cannot include punitive damages.

Government claim

The written claim a family must present to a public entity before suing it. For a death, it is due within six months after the claim accrues, usually the date of death (Government Code section 911.2), and it goes to the entity whose employee, vehicle or property was involved.

Late claim

A written application for permission to present a government claim after the six months have passed. It must be made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the claim accrued (Government Code section 911.4), and it is not granted automatically.

Policy limits

The most an insurance policy will pay. For auto policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, California's minimum is $30,000 for one person's injury or death and $60,000 for everyone in one crash. Usually, all of the family's claims for one person's death share the at-fault driver's per-person limit.

UM and UIM

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, the part of an auto policy that pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough. A California policy with bodily injury liability coverage includes it unless the policyholder deleted or reduced it in writing, and the family can claim under it if the person who died was covered by that policy. The deadline runs two years from the crash, not the death.

Economic and noneconomic damages

The two kinds of loss in a wrongful death claim. Economic damages are the financial support the person would have contributed, gifts or benefits, funeral and burial expenses, and the value of household services; noneconomic damages are the loss of the person's love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society and moral support. Grief itself is not included.

Punitive damages

Damages meant to punish, which require clear and convincing proof of oppression, fraud or malice. They are generally not part of a wrongful death award; they may be sought through the estate's survival claim, and Civil Code section 3294(d) allows them where the death resulted from a homicide for which the defendant was convicted of a felony. A public entity is never liable for them.

Comparative fault

California's rule for sharing responsibility for a death. If the person who died was partly at fault, the family's damages are reduced by that percentage, and each defendant's share of noneconomic damages generally follows its own share of fault.

Restitution

Money a criminal court orders a convicted defendant to pay for economic losses, including to the immediate surviving family. The judge sets the amount without regard to the defendant's ability to pay, and restitution actually collected is credited against a civil judgment for the same losses.

CalVCB

The California Victim Compensation Board, which can pay up to $12,818 toward funeral and burial costs, after other sources, when a death was caused by certain crimes, such as a drunk or hit-and-run driver. Applications are due within seven years, and the board must be repaid from a later recovery for the same costs.

Elder abuse and neglect

California's Elder Abuse Act protects people 65 and older, and adults 18 to 64 with disabilities, from abuse and neglect by those responsible for their care. Neglect means failing to provide the basic care a reasonable caregiver would, such as help with hygiene, food and water, protection from hazards and needed medical care. When it is proven by clear and convincing evidence with recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice, the court awards attorney's fees, and the person's pain and suffering can be recovered after death, up to a limit set by statute.

Exclusive remedy

The rule that workers' compensation is usually the only claim a family has against the employer for a work death. The Labor Code makes a few exceptions, such as a willful physical assault by the employer or an employer with no workers' compensation coverage, and claims against others who caused the death remain open.

Death benefit

The workers' compensation payment to a worker's dependents after a work death, set by statute. For injuries since 2006 the base amount is $250,000 for one total dependent, $290,000 for two and $320,000 for three or more, paid in installments, and payments for totally dependent minor children continue until the youngest turns 18. Burial costs are covered up to $10,000 for injuries since 2013.

Lien

A legal right to be repaid out of a recovery. After a death, a workers' compensation insurer or CalVCB can claim repayment, and Medicare and Medi-Cal may claim reimbursement for medical care paid before the death; their rules turn on what the recovery is for.