Insurance after a fatal crash in CaliforniaThe policies that can pay your family.

This page explains which insurance can pay after a death in a crash in California, whose policy the family can use, and the dates that go with each one. In California, only the people named in Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 can bring a wrongful death claim. They can file it themselves, or the personal representative of the estate can file it on their behalf. Our guide to who can file a wrongful death claim explains who that includes, the main wrongful death page explains the claim itself, and our glossary defines the legal terms used here.

The policies that can pay

Most wrongful death claims after a crash are paid by insurance, not by the driver personally. More than one policy can apply, and each pays under its own rules. The table lists the usual sources, when each one can pay and what limits it. Which of them apply depends on who was driving, who owned the vehicle, why it was on the road, and which policies covered the person who died.

Minimum liability limits

California's minimum auto liability coverage is $30,000 for the injury or death of one person and $60,000 for everyone hurt or killed in one crash, plus $15,000 for property damage, for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025 (Vehicle Code 16056). A policy issued before then kept the old $15,000 and $30,000 limits until it renewed. For policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2035, the minimums rise to $50,000, $100,000 and $25,000.

The minimum is only a floor. A driver's policy can carry higher limits, and the policy itself sets what it pays. Drivers in California's Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program carry lower limits, which the Department of Insurance lists in its 2026 report on the program. A driver may also have no insurance at all, which is where the family's own coverage comes in.

One limit for the family

Usually, all of the family's claims for one person's death share the at-fault driver's per-person limit. The statute writes that limit around "bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident," and the family's claims all arise from that one death, however many relatives bring them. When other people were also hurt in the same crash, every claim together is capped by the per-crash limit, and the Department of Insurance's auto guide says it plainly: "The injured people share the money." The policy's own wording controls, so we read the policy itself. When the limit is too small for the family's loss, other coverage may add to it, as the sections below explain.

Uninsured motorist coverage

A California auto policy with bodily injury liability coverage includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless the policyholder deleted or reduced it in writing. Umbrella and excess policies do not have to include it. Insurance Code section 11580.2 writes the coverage to insure "the insured, the insured's heirs or legal representative" for damages "for bodily injury or wrongful death" caused by an uninsured driver. So the heirs of a person who was insured under the policy can bring the death claim under it, up to its limits.

Two kinds of vehicle never count as uninsured under this coverage: a vehicle owned or driven by the policyholder or by someone in the same household, and a vehicle owned by the United States, the State, a city, a county or another public agency. When a government vehicle caused the death, the family's route is a written claim against that agency, on the deadline our guide to claims against a city or county explains.

Policies that cover the family

If the person who died was covered under an auto policy, as the policyholder, a spouse, or a relative living in the same household, the family can bring the wrongful death claim under that policy's uninsured motorist coverage. A relative's own policy pays only if the person who died was covered under it. In Smith v. Royal Insurance Co. of America (1986) 186 Cal.App.3d 239, a woman whose father was killed by an uninsured driver could not recover under her own policy, because he did not live with her and was not insured under it. She was, the court said, "not an insured who suffered bodily injury or wrongful death."

The question is whether the person who died was covered, not whose name is on the policy. The people insured include the policyholder, the spouse, relatives living in the same household "while occupants of a motor vehicle or otherwise," and anyone riding in the insured vehicle. Three policies are worth checking:

• The policy of the person who died, if they had one.
• The policy of any relative they lived with, which can cover them as a passenger in someone else's car, a pedestrian or a cyclist.
• The policy on the vehicle they were riding in, which covers the people in it.

Consent before any settlement

Before anyone signs a release with the at-fault driver's insurer, tell every insurer whose uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may apply. The statute says the coverage does not apply where the insured or a representative settles with someone who may be legally liable, or takes a case against them to judgment, without the insurer's written consent. A lawyer can handle that notice and the consent before any money changes hands.

Underinsured motorist coverage

Underinsured motorist coverage helps when the at-fault driver had insurance, but for less than the uninsured motorist limits on a policy that covered the person who died. It pays only after every liability policy on the vehicles that caused the death has been paid in full, by settlement or judgment, and proof of that payment has gone to the insurer. The most it pays is its own limit, less what was paid by or for anyone who may be legally liable for the death. That credit can include money from parties other than the driver, such as an employer or a property owner. Two policies cannot be added together, or stacked, to raise the limit.

The uninsured motorist deadline

The uninsured motorist claim has its own deadline: within two years of the crash, not the death, you must sue the uninsured driver, reach a written agreement with your insurer, or start arbitration by certified mail. The statute requires the arbitration notice to go to the insurer in writing "sent by certified mail, return receipt requested." This deadline is written into Insurance Code section 11580.2(i), not set by the policy. Because it runs from the crash, it comes first whenever a person dies days or weeks after being hurt. The safest course is to send the certified arbitration demand early, without waiting for the end of the two years.

The lawsuit deadline

Most California wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within two years of the date of death (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). If a city, a county, the State, a school district, a transit agency or another public entity may be responsible, the family must first present a written claim to that entity within six months after the claim accrues, which is usually the date of death (Government Code section 911.2). The lawsuit against the entity then has its own deadline: six months after a written rejection notice is delivered or mailed, or two years from the date the claim accrued if no written notice is given (Government Code section 945.6). Some cases have different periods, including a death caused by a health care provider's professional negligence (Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5) and a claim against the United States (28 U.S.C. section 2401(b)). The dates in any one case should be calculated by a lawyer.

Our guide to the wrongful death statute of limitations explains each of these dates, and our guide to the criminal case and the civil claim explains the extra time that can follow a felony conviction.

Uninsured drivers who died

If your loved one was driving without insurance, the family's own wrongful death claim is not barred by Proposition 213 (Horwich v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 272). Proposition 213, now Civil Code section 3333.4, generally keeps an uninsured driver or owner from recovering noneconomic damages for their own injuries. The California Supreme Court held that it does not reach the family's claim for that driver's death, because the measure "is aimed at these individuals and these individuals alone." The family can still claim the loss of their loved one's care, comfort and society, along with the financial losses the death caused.

Hit-and-run crashes

When the driver is never identified, the coverage applies only if the vehicle struck the person or the car they were in, the crash was reported to police within 24 hours, and a sworn statement was filed with the insurer within 30 days. A family member can make the report and the statement. These conditions come from the statute, not from the policy. The report goes to the police department of the city where the crash happened or, in an unincorporated area, to the sheriff or the local California Highway Patrol office, and the sworn statement can say that "the insured's heirs have a cause of action." The two-year deadline still runs from the crash. Our guide to fatal hit-and-run crashes explains the rest, and our guide to uninsured motorist claims explains the coverage in more detail.

Rideshare and work vehicles

When the at-fault driver was driving for Uber or Lyft, Public Utilities Code section 5433 sets the company's coverage by the driver's status in the app. From the moment a ride is accepted until it is complete, the company's policy is primary and carries $1,000,000 for death, personal injury and property damage. While the driver is logged on and waiting for a ride, the required coverage is at least $50,000 for one person's death or injury and $100,000 per incident, plus $200,000 in excess coverage. A passenger also has uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident from getting in until getting out. None of this waits for a personal auto policy to deny the claim. Our guide to rideshare insurance coverage covers each phase.

A truck, van or company car on the job can bring an employer's commercial policy into the case, along with the employer's own responsibility for its driver. Our guides to whose insurance pays after a commercial vehicle crash and fatal commercial vehicle crashes explain those claims. For a passenger car crash, our guide to fatal car accidents covers the investigation.

Losses the claim covers

Insurance limits cap what a policy pays. They do not measure the family's loss. California's jury instruction for the death of an adult, CACI No. 3921, sets out what a wrongful death claim can include. The economic losses are the financial support the person who died would have contributed, the gifts or benefits the family would have expected, funeral and burial expenses, and the reasonable value of the household services that person would have provided. The noneconomic losses are the loss of that person's love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support, and, where the facts fit, the loss of the enjoyment of sexual relations and the loss of training and guidance. CACI No. 3921 tells the jury not to consider a family member's grief, sorrow, or mental anguish. The law compensates the relationship that was lost, not the pain of losing it. The jury usually returns one amount for all the heirs. The court decides how an award is divided, and it can divide a settlement when the heirs do not agree. What a family recovers depends on its own evidence, and no result is guaranteed.

The estate's own claim is narrower now. Except in qualifying elder or dependent adult abuse cases, a survival action filed on or after January 1, 2026 cannot recover damages for the pain, suffering, or disfigurement the person experienced before death. Law checked November 8, 2026. Our guides to wrongful death damages and survival actions explain both claims.

First steps for the family

1. Ask for the police collision report, which names the other driver and their insurer. Our documents checklist lists who holds each record and how to request it.
2. Find every auto policy that may have covered the person who died: their own, those of relatives they lived with, and the policy on any vehicle they were riding in. Ask each insurer in writing for the declarations page, which lists the limits.
3. Tell each of those insurers about the death in writing, and keep a copy of everything you send.
4. If the other driver had no insurance or drove away, write down the date of the crash. The uninsured motorist deadline runs two years from that date, not from the death.
5. Do not sign a release or cash a policy-limits check until every insurer whose coverage may apply has been told and has agreed in writing.
6. If a public vehicle, employee or road may be involved, read our guide to claims against a city or county before anything else.

Our guide to the first 48 hours after a death covers what comes before any of this. When the driver was drunk or drugged, our guide to fatal drunk driving crashes explains what changes. Families of a pedestrian or a motorcycle rider can read our guides to fatal pedestrian accidents and fatal motorcycle accidents.

Sources cited

• Vehicle Code section 16056, minimum liability limits: California Legislative Information
• Vehicle Code section 17151, owner liability: California Legislative Information
• Insurance Code section 11580.2, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage: California Legislative Information
• Public Utilities Code section 5433, rideshare coverage: California Legislative Information
• Civil Code section 3333.4, Proposition 213: California Legislative Information
• Horwich v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 272: SCOCAL, Stanford Law School
• Smith v. Royal Insurance Co. of America (1986) 186 Cal.App.3d 239: CourtListener
• California Department of Insurance, Automobile Insurance guide: PDF
• California Department of Insurance, California Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program, 2026 report to the Legislature: PDF
• Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, the two-year period: California Legislative Information
• Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2, when the person responsible dies: California Legislative Information
• Probate Code sections 550 and 551, claims covered by the driver's insurance: section 550 and section 551
• Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34, survival damages: California Legislative Information
• Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2026 edition), CACI No. 3921: courts.ca.gov
• California Victim Compensation Board, funeral and burial benefits: victims.ca.gov