Wrongful Death Lawyer

There is no harder loss than losing someone you love because another person was careless. In the days and weeks that follow, a lawsuit is almost certainly the last thing on your mind — and it should be. Your first responsibility is to your family and your own grief. But California law gives the people closest to the person who died the right to hold the responsible party accountable and to recover for the very real losses a family suffers, and there are deadlines that can quietly take that right away. Boyadzhyan Legal Shield represents families throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley in wrongful death claims, and we handle these cases on contingency — you pay no attorney's fee unless we recover for you.

Founding attorney Knarik Boyadzhyan is a former Deputy Public Defender who began her career as a paralegal in the U.S. Department of Justice's Violent and Organized Crime Section. That background gives her a trial lawyer's discipline and a deep respect for what is at stake when a case is about a human life. She approaches these matters with the seriousness and the sensitivity they deserve — building the case with real evidence, documenting the full measure of what your family has lost, and standing between you and the insurance company so that you can grieve while the legal work is handled for you.

A wrongful death claim can never undo what happened, and no honest lawyer would pretend otherwise. What it can do is provide a measure of justice and financial security — recovering the support your loved one would have provided, the value of their care and companionship, and the burial and funeral costs a family should never have had to face. It also asks the responsible party to answer for what they did, which for many families is as important as any dollar figure. What a claim is ultimately worth depends on the facts and the proof, and we will always be honest with you about that.

This page explains who may bring a wrongful death claim in California, the losses the law allows a family to recover, the separate 'survival action' that belongs to the person's estate, the common causes of these cases, the deadlines that apply, and how we handle wrongful death matters locally in the Valley. It is general information about California law, not legal advice about your specific situation — for that, the consultation is free, confidential, and offered with care.

California law does not let just anyone file a wrongful death claim — the right belongs to a defined circle of people closest to the person who died. Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 lists who may bring the claim, beginning with the person's surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, their children, and, if a child has died, that child's children (the decedent's grandchildren). This is the primary group the law recognizes as most directly harmed by the loss, and in most cases it is these family members who bring the claim.

If there is no surviving spouse, domestic partner, or descendant, the right to sue generally passes to those who would inherit from the person under California's laws of intestate succession — which can include parents, siblings, and other next of kin, depending on the family. In addition, the statute allows certain people who were financially dependent on the person who died to bring a claim — for example, a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, or the person's parents — even when they are not first in the line of succession. The rules are specific and fact-dependent, and figuring out exactly who holds the right in a particular family is one of the first things we sort out.

California treats wrongful death as a single, unified claim, which means the eligible family members generally join together in one action rather than filing competing lawsuits — and any recovery is then divided among them according to each person's actual loss. If you are unsure whether you are among those the law allows to file, or how a claim would work when several family members are involved, that is exactly the kind of question the consultation is meant to answer, gently and without obligation.

California law, in Code of Civil Procedure § 377.61, defines what a family may recover in a wrongful death claim, and it is helpful to understand the shape of it in advance. The recoverable losses fall into two broad groups. The first is financial: the economic support the person who died would have contributed to the family over their lifetime, the value of household services they provided, and the reasonable expenses of the funeral and burial. The second is the human loss the law recognizes but cannot truly measure — the loss of the person's love, companionship, comfort, care, moral support, and, for a child, the guidance and training a parent would have given.

There is one distinction that is important, and that we explain to families with care, because it can feel counterintuitive. California does not allow the survivors to recover for their own grief, sorrow, or mental anguish as a separate item of damages. What the law does allow is compensation for the loss of the relationship itself — the love, companionship, and support your loved one would have provided. In practice this is a meaningful and often substantial category of recovery; it is simply framed around the value of what was lost to the family rather than around the family's emotional suffering. We make sure this loss is documented and presented fully.

Alongside the wrongful death claim, California recognizes a separate claim called a 'survival action,' under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.30. Where the wrongful death claim compensates the family for their loss, the survival action belongs to the person's estate and recovers the losses the person themselves suffered between the moment of injury and their death — their own medical expenses and lost earnings during that period, along with any punitive damages. California law no longer allows a survival action to recover the person's own pre-death pain and suffering: a temporary provision that permitted it (Code of Civil Procedure § 377.34(b)) sunset on January 1, 2026. The two claims are typically pursued together, by the family and the estate's representative, so that both what your loved one lost and what your family lost are fully accounted for.

No page can tell you what a particular claim is worth, and any lawyer who quotes a number before understanding the facts is guessing. The value of a wrongful death case depends on many things — the person's age, health, earnings, and role in the family, the strength of the liability evidence, and the insurance available — and on how completely and credibly the loss is proven. What we can promise is a claim built on honest evidence rather than on whatever an insurer is willing to concede, and straight answers from us about your case at every step.

Wrongful death claims arise whenever a person's death is caused by the negligent, reckless, or intentional act of another. The most common cause is a fatal traffic collision — car, truck, and motorcycle crashes, and the pedestrian and bicycle deaths that are all too frequent on Los Angeles streets — where a driver's carelessness, speed, distraction, or impairment took a life. Crashes caused by drunk or impaired drivers deserve special mention, both because they are preventable and because the criminal case against the driver runs alongside, and can strengthen, the family's separate civil claim.

Beyond the roadway, these claims commonly grow out of dangerous property conditions and negligent security — a fatal fall, a drowning, or a foreseeable violent attack a property owner failed to guard against; out of medical negligence, where a preventable error in diagnosis or treatment caused a death; and out of workplace and construction accidents, where a party other than the employer contributed to a fatal jobsite injury. Defective products, and in some cases intentional acts of violence, can give rise to wrongful death claims as well.

Whatever the cause, the legal question is the same: did someone else's failure to use reasonable care, or their wrongful act, cause the death — and who, exactly, is responsible? Serious cases often involve more than one at-fault party and more than one insurance policy, and identifying every responsible party is frequently what makes a full recovery possible. That investigation is work we carry for you, so that your family does not have to.

California sets firm deadlines for a wrongful death claim, and missing one generally ends the case no matter how strong it is. For most wrongful death claims the statute of limitations is two years from the date of death under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. Two years can feel like a long time in the fog of grief, and then pass before a family is ready to think about a lawsuit — which is one reason we encourage families to reach out early, even just to understand their options, long before any deadline is near.

A different and much shorter deadline applies when a government entity may be responsible — a city or county vehicle, a public transit bus, a government employee, or a dangerous condition on a public road or property. In those situations, California law generally requires that a written claim be presented to the public entity within six months of the death before a lawsuit can even be filed, and the procedural rules are strict. Because it is not always obvious that a government entity is involved, this shorter deadline is a strong reason to have a case looked at sooner rather than later.

There are limited circumstances that can change these timelines — cases involving certain medical-negligence rules, claims where a person entitled to sue is a minor, or situations where the cause of death was not immediately known — but they are exceptions, not the rule, and they are fact-specific. The safe course is never to assume there is plenty of time. The sooner a claim can be evaluated, the more of the evidence can be preserved. This is general information, not legal advice about your family's specific deadline, which should be confirmed with an attorney.

Boyadzhyan Legal Shield is based in Encino on Ventura Boulevard and represents grieving families throughout the San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles — Encino, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, Van Nuys, Woodland Hills, Studio City, Northridge, and the surrounding communities. We know the roads where fatal crashes happen, from the US-101 (Ventura Freeway) and the I-405 to the length of Ventura Boulevard and the busy Valley intersections, and we know the local courts, hospitals, and agencies whose records a serious case depends on.

That local knowledge is practical, not decorative. Knowing how a particular interchange or intersection functions, where the cameras are, and how the Los Angeles County courts handle these matters helps us build the case and anticipate the arguments a defendant will make. When a wrongful death case cannot be resolved fairly and must be filed as a lawsuit, San Fernando Valley civil matters are generally heard at the Van Nuys Courthouse, and we appear in Van Nuys and the surrounding Los Angeles County courts.

Working from a single Encino office keeps the firm close to the families and communities it serves. You work directly with the attorney handling your case — not a rotating cast at a high-volume settlement mill — and because we take these cases on contingency, strong and compassionate representation is available to your family regardless of your financial situation. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no attorney's fee unless we recover for you.