Wrongful Death Lawsuit Deadlines by State
Updated · all 51 jurisdictions · deadline and standing researched separately · every row cites the statute
Two years is the most common wrongful death deadline (31 of 51 jurisdictions) — but Kentucky and Tennessee give families only one year. Two details end more claims than the headline number does. First, the clock usually starts at the date of death, not the date of the accident — so a personal-injury claim and a wrongful death claim from the same crash can run on different clocks. Second, in 34 jurisdictions a much shorter trap applies, most often a government notice-of-claim measured in months.
The wrong plaintiff loses too. In 4 jurisdictions only the personal representative of the estate may bring the action — a spouse or child who files in their own name can be dismissed even though the deadline was met. Appointing a representative through probate takes time, which is exactly why short deadlines bite. This page states both the deadline and who may file, per jurisdiction.
The shortest deadlines in the country
Where families have the least time to act — the rule quoted from each state’s own statute.
Kentucky
1 yearOne year — but the clock starts on the QUALIFICATION OF THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE by the court, NOT the date of death. KRS 413.180(1): the action 'may be brought by his personal representative... if commenced within one (1) year after the qualification of the representative.' If no representative qualifies within a year of death, KRS 413.180(2) deems the representative to have qualified on the last day of that one-year period — so the outer limit is roughly 2 years from death in the worst case, but if a representative qualifies promptly after death, the true filing deadline can arrive far sooner than a year after the death itself. This mechanic (and its application to wrongful-death claims specifically) was applied by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in Ragland v. Estate of Digiuro, 352 S.W.3d 908 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010).
KRS 413.180(1)-(2), read with KRS 411.130 and KRS 413.140(1)(a); Ragland v. Estate of Digiuro, 352 S.W.3d 908 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010)Tennessee
1 yearOne year -- this is the state's single biggest wrongful-death trap. Tennessee has no wrongful-death-labeled limitations statute at all. Instead, § 20-5-106 provides that the decedent's own personal-injury cause of action does not die with them but 'shall pass to' the surviving spouse/children/next of kin/personal representative -- meaning a wrongful-death claim IS, legally, the decedent's personal-injury claim continued by the survivors. It is therefore governed by the ordinary one-year period for 'injuries to the person' under § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A), running from the date of death (when the claim accrues to the survivors), not by any statute that mentions 'wrongful death' by name. This is a well-established rule of Tennessee case law built directly on the § 20-5-106 'survival/passes to' structure, but because no single quoted clause uses the words 'wrongful death' together with 'one year,' this row is flagged needs_review rather than asserted as a directly-labeled statutory number.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A), read with § 20-5-106Deadline and standing in all 51 jurisdictions
“Rule-based” means the statute cannot honestly be reduced to one number — the rule column spells it out. Warnings flag shorter traps such as government notice periods or medical-malpractice specials. Rows marked † carry an open verification note — we show our best-supported reading rather than a guess.
| State | Deadline | When the clock starts | Who may sue | Statutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2 years | 2 years, running from the date of death — not from the date of the injury-causing act or omission. No separate discovery rule applies to the wrongful-death claim itself. | Only the personal representative of the decedent's estate may bring the wrongful-death action; a surviving spouse, child, or parent has no independent right to sue. The personal representative sues on the estate's behalf even though damages ultimately pass to the statutory next of kin. | Ala. Code § 6-5-410 |
| Alaska | 2 years | 2 years from the date of death. The personal representative (who sues on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries) has 2 years from death — not from the injury or negligent act — to commence the action, subject to exceptions in subsection (f) and AS 09.65.145 (not reviewed in this pass). | The personal representative of the decedent's estate is the only party who may sue, doing so on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries (the deceased's spouse, children, or other dependents); individual family members cannot sue in their own name. | Alaska Stat. § 09.55.580(a) |
| Arizona | 2 years | 2 years, and the statute explicitly fixes accrual at the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury — Arizona's general-injury clock and its wrongful-death clock can therefore start on two different dates for the same incident.Shorter trap: A wrongful-death claim against a public entity or public employee in Arizona additionally requires a notice of claim within 180 days after the cause of action accrues (Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-821.01) — far shorter than the 2-year SOL, and missing it bars the claim regardless of the SOL. | Action shall be brought by and in the name of any ONE of: the surviving spouse, a child, a parent, a guardian, OR the personal representative of the deceased — these are co-equal potential plaintiffs, not a strict hierarchy where the representative sues only as last resort. The suit is brought 'for and on behalf of' the surviving spouse, children, or parents if any survive; only if NONE of spouse/children/parents survive does the recovery instead benefit the decedent's estate — that clause governs who the money goes to, not who may file. Anyone convicted (or who pleads guilty/no contest) of specified homicide offenses (Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 13-1103, 13-1104, 13-1105, or equivalent out-of-state convictions) in connection with the death is deemed to have predeceased the decedent and is disqualified from suing or recovering. | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-542(A)(2) · Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-612(A) |
| Arkansas | 3 years | 3 years from the date of death — longer than most states' 2-year default. Exception: this ordinary 3-year period does not control if the defendant is convicted of capital murder, first-degree murder, or second-degree murder in connection with the death (criminal-case timing applies instead). A case dismissed on nonsuit gets 1 additional year from the nonsuit date to refile. | Must be brought by and in the name of the personal representative of the deceased. Only if there is NO personal representative may the heirs at law bring the action directly in their own names. Beneficiaries entitled to share in any recovery: surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings, and persons standing in loco parentis in either direction. | Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-102(c)(1) · Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-102(b) |
| California | 2 years | 2 years from the date of death for ORDINARY (non-malpractice) wrongful death claims under Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1, running from accrual of the wrongful-death cause of action (the date of death), not the underlying injury. CORRECTED EXCEPTION: where the death is caused by a health care provider's professional negligence, CCP § 340.5 governs INSTEAD of § 335.1 — § 340.5's own text explicitly covers 'an action for injury or death against a health care provider based upon ... professional negligence' and defines professional negligence as the proximate cause of 'a personal injury or wrongful death.' Under § 340.5 the period is 3 years after the date of injury OR 1 year after discovery, whichever occurs first (subject to tolling for fraud, intentional concealment, or a foreign body left in the patient). This can be shorter than 2 years from death, or can even time-bar a claim before death occurs, in latent-injury malpractice scenarios.Shorter trap: A claim against a California state or local public entity requires a Government Claims Act notice within 6 months after the death (Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2) — far shorter than the 2-year wrongful-death SOL, and missing it bars the claim regardless of the SOL. | Surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children may sue; if none of those survive, whoever would inherit the decedent's estate by intestate succession may sue. In addition, a dependent putative spouse, dependent stepchildren, or dependent parents/legal guardians may sue regardless of intestate-succession status, and a minor who lived in the decedent's household for the prior 180 days and depended on the decedent for at least half of support may also sue. | Cal. Civ. Proc. Code §§ 335.1, 340.5 · Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 377.60(a) |
| Colorado | 2 years | 2 years, via the wrongful death act's cross-reference to Colorado's general 2-year tort limitations statute — running from when the cause of action accrues (death). Exception: if the death results from vehicular homicide combined with the defendant leaving the scene, as part of the same criminal episode, the period extends to 4 years.Shorter trap: A claim against a Colorado government entity requires written notice within 182 days after discovery of the injury/death under the Governmental Immunity Act (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-10-109) — far shorter than the 2-year SOL, and the statute is described as jurisdictional (failure to comply 'forever bars' the action), independent of the ordinary SOL. | Colorado uses a strict, time-gated priority order: for the FIRST YEAR after death, only the surviving spouse may sue (unless the spouse elects in writing to let the heirs sue jointly with, or instead of, the spouse). Only in the SECOND YEAR after death — if the spouse did not sue during year one — may the heir(s) sue on their own. If there is no spouse, the heir(s) (or a designated beneficiary) may sue from the start. For an unmarried minor or an adult decedent without descendants, the parents may sue jointly, with the court apportioning any judgment between separated/divorced parents based on their relationship with the deceased. | Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 13-21-204, 13-80-102(1)(d) · Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-201(1) |
| Connecticut | 2 years | 2 years from the date of death, but subject to an absolute OUTER cap of 5 years from the date of the wrongful act or omission — if death occurs more than 5 years after the negligent act (e.g. a slow-developing injury or latent condition), the claim can already be time-barred even though it is well within 2 years of the death itself. Subsection (b) removes any time limit entirely if the defendant was convicted, or acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect, for specific homicide offenses (Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 53a-54a through 53a-55a). | The action is brought by the executor or administrator (personal representative) of the decedent's estate — Connecticut treats a wrongful-death claim as a survival action of the decedent's own personal-injury claim, prosecuted by the estate's representative, not by individual family members suing in their own right. | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-555(a) |
| Delaware † | 2 years | 2 years from the accrual of the cause of action. Delaware's wrongful-death statute of limitations does not use the word 'death' itself — it says 'from the accruing of the cause of such action' — but Delaware's wrongful-death act (10 Del. C. §§ 3721-3725) creates the cause of action only upon the decedent's death, so in practice the 2-year clock runs from the date of death. | Delaware's statute names the beneficiary class directly rather than routing the claim exclusively through the estate: the action is for the benefit of the decedent's spouse, parent, child, and siblings; if none of those relatives exist, it extends to any person related to the deceased by blood or marriage. The fetched statutory text confirms WHO BENEFITS but does not, on its face, spell out whether a named beneficiary sues directly or the action must be filed through a personal representative — that procedural detail needs confirmation against the full text of 10 Del. C. § 3724 or Delaware case law before being treated as settled. | 10 Del. C. § 8107 · 10 Del. C. § 3724(a) |
| District of Columbia | 2 years | 2 years from the date of death (extended from a 1-year period by a 2012 amendment, effective October 22, 2012).Shorter trap: A claim against the District of Columbia government requires separate written notice to the Mayor within 6 months after the injury or damage was sustained (D.C. Code § 12-309) — note this is dated from the INJURY, not the death, and is far shorter than the 2-year wrongful-death SOL, making it easy to miss. | The wrongful-death action must be brought by and in the name of the personal representative of the deceased — individual family members (spouse, domestic partner, next of kin) cannot sue directly; any recovery is distributed to them through the estate. | D.C. Code § 16-2702 |
| Florida | 2 years | Two years, running from the date of death (not the date of the underlying injury). Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e) sets the period; the right of action itself, created by Fla. Stat. § 768.19, only arises 'notwithstanding the death of the person injured' — i.e., it cannot accrue before death occurs — and § 95.031(1) fixes accrual at 'the last element constituting the cause of action,' which for a wrongful-death claim is the death. If the death was caused by medical malpractice, the malpractice-specific limitation of Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(c) (2 years from discovery, 4-year statute of repose, 7 years if fraudulently concealed) applies independently and can be shorter. If the death resulted from an intentional tort constituting murder or manslaughter (Fla. Stat. §§ 782.04, 782.07), the wrongful-death action 'may be commenced at any time,' Fla. Stat. § 95.11(11).Shorter trap: If death resulted from medical malpractice, the separate 2-year discovery / 4-year repose rule in Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(c) can independently and more strictly bar the claim. Suits against Florida state/local government require a pre-suit written notice of claim under Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)(a) (3 years generally; 2 years specifically for wrongful-death claims). | personal representative of the estate only — brings the single action 'for the benefit of the decedent's survivors and estate'; individual survivors (spouse, children, parents, certain blood relatives/dependents) cannot sue directly. | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e) · Fla. Stat. § 768.20 |
| Georgia | 2 years | Two years, running from the date of death. Georgia has no wrongful-death-specific limitations statute; courts apply the general 'injuries to the person' 2-year period of O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. The underlying right of action under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 is for 'homicide,' which O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1 defines as the cases 'in which the death of a human being results' — so the claim cannot accrue before the death occurs, fixing accrual at the date of death. If the death arose from medical malpractice, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71 supplies the same 2-year period but running from 'the date on which an injury or death... occurred,' subject to a 5-year absolute statute of repose measured from the negligent act (not from death).Shorter trap: Claims against a Georgia municipal corporation require ante litem notice within 6 months of the event (O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5); claims against the State of Georgia require ante litem notice within 12 months of discovery (O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26) — both far shorter than the 2-year suit deadline. | tiered/ranked standing: the surviving spouse may sue directly (and controls the claim even alongside children); if there is no surviving spouse, the decedent's child or children (minor or adult) may sue directly for 'the full value of the life of the decedent'; only if there is no surviving spouse or child does the administrator or executor of the estate bring the action, for the benefit of the next of kin. | O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 (general) · O.C.G.A. §§ 51-4-2, 51-4-5 |
| Hawaii | 2 years | Two years from the date of death — this is stated explicitly in the wrongful-death statute itself, not derived. HRS § 663-3(b): 'Any action brought under this section shall be commenced within two years from the date of death of the injured person, except as otherwise provided.' The separate general personal-injury limitation in HRS § 657-7 (2 years from accrual of the cause of action) governs the decedent's own surviving personal-injury claim, not the wrongful-death claim itself. | the deceased's legal representative (estate), OR — directly, without going through the estate — any of the statutorily enumerated survivors: surviving spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, children, parents ('father, mother'), or persons wholly/partly dependent on the decedent. Damages awarded to these individuals do not become part of the estate; only reasonable last-illness and burial expenses are recovered for the estate. | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-3(b) · Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-3(a), (b) |
| Idaho | 2 years | Two years under Idaho Code § 5-219(4), which lists 'the death of one caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another' among the actions governed by this section. The statute's default rule ties accrual to 'the time of the occurrence, act or omission complained of' — but the Idaho Supreme Court held in Chapman v. Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc., 105 Idaho 785, 673 P.2d 385 (1983), that for a wrongful-death claim the relevant 'occurrence' under § 5-219 IS the death itself, so the 2-year clock runs from the date of death, not from the date of the underlying injury/wrongful act.Shorter trap: Claims against a political subdivision require written notice within 180 days of when the claim arose or reasonably should have been discovered (Idaho Tort Claims Act, Idaho Code § 6-906) — far shorter than the 2-year suit deadline. | the decedent's heirs, or the personal representative acting on the heirs' behalf, may maintain the action. 'Heirs' is defined broadly to include those who would take under Idaho intestacy law plus the surviving spouse, children, stepchildren, parents, and dependent blood/adoptive relatives; an illegitimate child of the mother (or of the father only if he assumed a parental support obligation); and a putative spouse who was dependent on the decedent. | Idaho Code § 5-219(4) · Idaho Code § 5-311(1), (2) |
| Illinois | 2 years | Two years after the date of death. 740 ILCS 180/2: 'Every such action shall be commenced within 2 years after the death of such person.' Exceptions: if death results from violent intentional conduct underlying specified homicide charges, the deadline extends to 5 years after death or 1 year after final disposition of the criminal case, whichever is later (added by P.A. 103-514, eff. 8/11/2023); a beneficiary who was a minor when the cause of action accrued may bring the action within 2 years after turning 18.Shorter trap: If death arose from medical malpractice, the med-mal-specific limitation (735 ILCS 5/13-212) — 2 years from discovery but never more than 4 years after the negligent act/omission — can operate as a shorter, independent bar. If the defendant is a local public entity (city, county, park district, school district, etc.), the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act cuts the ordinary limitation to just 1 year from the date the injury was received or the cause of action accrued (745 ILCS 10/8-101(a)). | personal representative of the estate only — the action must be brought 'by and in the names of the personal representatives'; individual next-of-kin cannot sue directly, though the recovery is distributed to the surviving spouse and next of kin per the Act's distribution rules. | 740 ILCS 180/2 |
| Indiana | 2 years | Two years for the general (adult) Wrongful Death Act. Ind. Code § 34-23-1-1: 'the action shall be commenced by the personal representative of the decedent within two (2) years.' The statutory text does not itself name the trigger event, but the Indiana Supreme Court in Ellenwine v. Fairley, 846 N.E.2d 657 (Ind. 2006), confirmed this 2-year period runs from the date of death. Critically, when the death was caused by medical malpractice, the Medical Malpractice Act's own occurrence-based 2-year period (running from the date of the negligent act, NOT death) applies independently — under Ellenwine, the claim must be filed by whichever of the two 2-year periods expires FIRST, so if death occurs more than 2 years after the malpractice, the wrongful-death claim can already be time-barred before its own clock ever starts.Shorter trap: Claims against a political subdivision require written notice within 180 days after the loss occurs (Indiana Tort Claims Act, Ind. Code § 34-13-3-8) — far shorter than the 2-year suit deadline. See value_text for the separate, well-documented medical-malpractice trap under Ellenwine v. Fairley. | personal representative of the estate only, for an adult decedent. Ind. Code § 34-23-1-2: 'If the death of an adult person is caused by the wrongful act or omission of another person, only the personal representative of the adult person may maintain an action against the person whose wrongful act or omission caused the death.' (A separate Child Wrongful Death Act, Ind. Code art. 34-23-2, governs the death of an unmarried minor with different standing rules.) | Ind. Code § 34-23-1-1 · Ind. Code § 34-23-1-2 |
| Iowa † | 2 years | Two years, under the general 'injuries to the person' limitation, Iowa Code § 614.1(2). Iowa has no separate 'Wrongful Death Act' — a fatal-injury claim is prosecuted as a survival of the decedent's own personal-injury cause of action by the estate's personal representative (Iowa Code §§ 611.20, 611.22). Where death was caused by medical malpractice, the Iowa Supreme Court (Estate of Gray v. Baldi, 2016 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 57, quoting Schultze) has held the limitations period 'commences on the date the death is discovered' rather than the date of the negligent act. Independently, if the death arose from medical malpractice, Iowa Code § 614.1(9) supplies its own rule: 2 years from when the injury/death was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, with an outer 6-year statute of repose from the act or omission (no repose limit if a foreign object was left in the body; special extended deadline to a minor's 10th birthday for young children).Shorter trap: If the defendant is the State of Iowa or a state employee, a formal claim must be presented under the Iowa Tort Claims Act (Iowa Code ch. 669) before suit; the exact notice deadline was not independently verified in this pass. If death arose from medical malpractice, the discovery-based 2-year / 6-year-repose rule of Iowa Code § 614.1(9) can be shorter (or effectively longer, if discovery is delayed) than the plain 2-year rule. | personal representative (executor/administrator) of the estate only — the decedent's own cause of action 'survives' death and is prosecuted by the legal representative; individual survivors do not sue directly. Once recovered, damages for loss of services/support are apportioned by the court among the surviving spouse, children, and parents (Iowa Code § 633.336); such wrongful-death proceeds generally are not subject to the decedent's other debts, apart from a limited Medicaid-recovery exception. | Iowa Code § 614.1(2) · Iowa Code §§ 611.20, 611.22, 633.336 |
| Kansas | 2 years | Two years, typically running from the date of death. K.S.A. 60-513(a)(5): 'An action for wrongful death,' within 60-513's general accrual rule (subsection (b)): a cause of action 'shall not be deemed to have accrued until the act giving rise to the cause of action first causes substantial injury,' or, if not reasonably ascertainable, when it becomes reasonably ascertainable — but never more than 10 years after the wrongful act (statute of repose). Kansas statutory annotations confirm the discovery rule applies to wrongful-death claims and that the 2-year period 'typically commences from the date of death,' unless the death or the underlying negligence was concealed or misrepresented.Shorter trap: Claims against a Kansas municipality require a notice of claim under K.S.A. 12-105b before suit; the municipality then has up to 120 days to review/deny the claim (during which suit cannot be filed), and once denied, the claimant has no less than 90 days to commence the action — this procedural sequence must be started well before the underlying 2-year deadline runs out. | any one heir at law of the deceased who sustained a loss may commence the single action for the benefit of all heirs; other heirs who did not join as plaintiffs may intervene, and the recovery is 'for the exclusive benefit of all of the heirs' who sustained a loss regardless of who actually joined or intervened. | K.S.A. 60-513(a)(5), (b) · K.S.A. 60-1902 |
| Kentucky | 1 year | One year — but the clock starts on the QUALIFICATION OF THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE by the court, NOT the date of death. KRS 413.180(1): the action 'may be brought by his personal representative... if commenced within one (1) year after the qualification of the representative.' If no representative qualifies within a year of death, KRS 413.180(2) deems the representative to have qualified on the last day of that one-year period — so the outer limit is roughly 2 years from death in the worst case, but if a representative qualifies promptly after death, the true filing deadline can arrive far sooner than a year after the death itself. This mechanic (and its application to wrongful-death claims specifically) was applied by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in Ragland v. Estate of Digiuro, 352 S.W.3d 908 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010).Shorter trap: Kentucky's wrongful-death deadline is measured from when a personal representative is appointed by the district court, NOT from the date of death — the shortest and most procedurally dangerous deadline of the states surveyed here. Families who delay opening an estate can find the claim time-barred even though only a few months have passed since the death. | personal representative of the estate only. KRS 411.130: 'The action shall be prosecuted by the personal representative of the deceased.' After deducting funeral expenses, administration costs, and attorney fees, recovery is distributed by statutory hierarchy: to the surviving spouse alone if there are no children; split 50/50 between spouse and children if both survive; to the children alone if there is no spouse; to the parent(s) if neither spouse nor children survive; otherwise it passes into the general estate under the descent-and-distribution laws. | KRS 413.180(1)-(2), read with KRS 411.130 and KRS 413.140(1)(a) · KRS 411.130 |
| Louisiana | Rule-based | Not a simple year-count. Under La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2(B), the wrongful death action prescribes (Louisiana's term for the limitations period) one year from the date of DEATH or two years from the day the injury/damage was sustained, WHICHEVER IS LONGER — so if death follows the injury quickly, the effective window is close to 2 years from the injury; if death is delayed more than a year after the injury, the 1-year-from-death prong controls instead. Medical malpractice defendants get a separate, shorter rule instead of the 'whichever is longer' test: one year from the date of death only (art. 2315.2(F)). The right of action is heritable but inheriting it neither interrupts nor prolongs this period (art. 2315.2(C)).Shorter trap: Louisiana's former general one-year delictual-action prescription statute, Civ. Code art. 3492, was REPEALED effective July 1, 2024 (Acts 2024, No. 423) — do not cite it as current law; art. 2315.2 now states its own self-contained prescriptive period (as rewritten by Acts 2025, No. 488). Medical malpractice defendants get only the one-year-from-death prong, not the 'whichever is longer' rule. | Tiered, exclusive priority classes — only one class sues, and only if no member of a prior class survives: (1) surviving spouse and/or child(ren); (2) surviving father and mother (or either), if no spouse or child survived; (3) surviving brothers and sisters (or any of them), if no spouse, child, or parent survived; (4) surviving grandparents (or any of them), if no spouse, child, parent, or sibling survived. This is a direct action by the beneficiaries themselves, not solely through an estate representative. A parent who abandoned the deceased during minority (defined as failing, without just cause, to provide care/support for at least 12 months) is deemed not to have survived and is excluded from the priority scheme. | La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2(B) and (F) · La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2(A) and (E) |
| Maine | 3 years | 3 years, running from the date of DEATH (not the date of the injury-causing event). Exception: if the wrongful death resulted from a homicide, the ordinary 3-year-from-death deadline is replaced by a discovery-based period — the action may be commenced within 6 years of the date the personal representative or special administrator discovers a just cause of action against the person who caused the homicide.Shorter trap: If the underlying claim is a homicide, the 3-year-from-death default does not apply — a 6-year discovery-based period governs instead (6 years from when the personal representative discovers the cause of action against the person who caused the homicide). | Personal representative or special administrator of the deceased's estate only — the action must be brought in that person's name, not directly by family members. Damages recovered bypass the probate estate entirely and are distributed to statutory beneficiaries under Maine's intestacy scheme. | 18-C M.R.S. § 2-807 |
| Maryland | 3 years | 3 years, running from the date of DEATH of the injured person (not the date of the injury-causing incident). Two statutory exceptions: (1) occupational-disease deaths — filed within 10 years of the time of death OR 3 years from the date the cause of death was discovered, whichever period is SHORTER; (2) wrongful death arising from conduct that would constitute criminal homicide, where knowledge of the cause of action or the wrongdoer's identity was concealed by an adverse party/accomplice — there the action accrues (and a fresh 3-year clock starts) only when the claimant discovered or should have discovered, through ordinary diligence, the homicide and the wrongdoer's identity.Shorter trap: Claims against a Maryland LOCAL GOVERNMENT require separate written notice within only 1 year of the injury under the Local Government Tort Claims Act, Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-304 ('The notice shall be in writing and shall state the time, place, and cause of the injury' — filed within 1 year after the injury) — this is far shorter than, and runs independently of, the 3-year wrongful-death filing deadline, and missing it can bar the claim even while the 3-year window is still open (courts may excuse non-compliance only if the government wasn't prejudiced or already had actual/constructive knowledge). | Primary beneficiaries — spouse, parent(s), and child(ren) of the decedent — sue for their own benefit as a defined statutory class (not merely through an estate representative). If no primary beneficiary qualifies, the action passes to any blood or marriage relative who was substantially dependent on the deceased. | Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-904(g) · Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-904(a)-(b) |
| Massachusetts | 3 years | 3 years, but the trigger date is either of two things: normally the date of DEATH, or — if later — 3 years from when the decedent's executor or administrator knew, or through reasonable diligence should have known, of the factual basis for the cause of action (a discovery rule). The statute also allows further extension under Massachusetts' general tolling provisions for minors/incapacity/fraudulent concealment (G.L. c. 260, §§ 4, 4B, 9, 10).Shorter trap: The action can only be brought by the estate's executor or administrator — not directly by the surviving spouse, children, or parents, who are merely the statutory damages beneficiaries. | Executor or administrator of the decedent's estate only. Family members named as statutory beneficiaries (under the related distribution provisions of chapter 229) do not sue directly — the personal representative brings and controls the action, and distributes any recovery according to the statutory scheme. | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, § 2 |
| Michigan | 3 years | 3 years, running from the time of DEATH. This period comes from Michigan's general injury/death limitations statute (which governs the separately-codified Wrongful Death Act, MCL 600.2922, since that Act states no limitations period of its own). A saving provision, MCL 600.5852, can extend the deadline in cases where the injured person dies before or shortly after the limitations period would run and no personal representative is yet appointed — allowing the action to be commenced within a further window tied to the appointment of letters of authority — but the same provision caps this extension so an action is never allowed later than a further outside limit past when the original period would have expired.Shorter trap: If the fatal injury was caused by a defective highway/roadway and the defendant is a government road agency, a much shorter and separate notice-of-claim rule applies instead of/in addition to the 3-year deadline: written notice must be served on the agency within 120 days of when the injury occurred, per MCL 691.1404(1): 'the injured person, within 120 days from the time the injury occurred, ... shall serve a notice on the governmental agency of the occurrence of the injury and the defect.' (Extended to 180 days if the injured person was under 18 or incapacitated.) | Personal representative of the decedent's estate only. Family members/next of kin are statutory beneficiaries who share in any recovery under the distribution rules in the same section, but they cannot bring the suit themselves — it must be filed in the personal representative's name. | Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5805(2) · Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.2922(2) |
| Minnesota | Rule-based | Not a single uniform figure — three different tracks depending on the cause of death, all measured relative to the date of DEATH but with different caps: (1) ordinary wrongful acts: 3 years after the date of death, BUT capped at 6 years after the underlying act or omission — so if death follows the act by more than 3 years, the window can close before a full 3 years post-death have elapsed; (2) death allegedly caused by the professional negligence of a physician, surgeon, dentist, hospital, or sanitarium: 3 years from the date of death, further bounded by the medical-malpractice statute of limitations, Minn. Stat. § 541.076; (3) death caused by an intentional act constituting murder: no limitations period at all — the action 'may be commenced at any time after the death of the decedent.'Shorter trap: Claims against a Minnesota MUNICIPALITY require separate written notice, generally within 180 days of when the loss/injury is discovered under Minn. Stat. § 466.05 — but the same statute specifically extends the notice period for WRONGFUL-DEATH claims to 1 year after the injury or loss that resulted in death ('one year after the alleged injury or loss resulting in such death'), presentable by the personal representative, surviving spouse, next of kin, or a foreign consular officer. This notice deadline is independent of, and can be shorter than, the underlying 3-year wrongful-death filing deadline. | Not a direct-suit-by-family model: a court-appointed TRUSTEE brings the action. The trustee is appointed by the court upon written petition of the surviving spouse or one of the next of kin, and then sues (and distributes any recovery) on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries — the family members are not themselves proper plaintiffs. | Minn. Stat. § 573.02, subds. 1-3 · Minn. Stat. § 573.02, subd. 3 |
| Mississippi † | 3 years | Mississippi's wrongful-death statute (§ 11-7-13) contains NO limitations period of its own — it addresses only who may sue and how damages are distributed. The applicable period instead comes from Mississippi's separate general catch-all limitations statute: 3 years after the cause of action accrues. Note precisely: this catch-all statute's own text does not use the word 'death' to define the accrual trigger — it is established Mississippi practice to treat a wrongful-death claim as accruing on the date of death, but that specific trigger is not spelled out verbatim in the limitations statute itself.Shorter trap: Mississippi has NO dedicated wrongful-death statute of limitations written into the wrongful-death statute itself (Miss. Code Ann. § 11-7-13) — the 3-year period comes from the separate general catch-all statute (§ 15-1-49), whose text does not name 'date of death' as the accrual trigger. Verify current case law before relying on the 3-years-from-death characterization in a specific case. | Unusually broad, direct-suit model: the action may be brought EITHER by the personal representative (for the benefit of all persons entitled to recover) OR directly, in their own name, by the surviving spouse (for the other spouse's death), a parent (for a child's death, including an unborn quick child), a child (for a parent's death), or a sibling (for a sibling's death). Several classes of individual relatives thus have independent standing to sue without going through an estate representative. The statute expressly makes this list of eligible plaintiffs exclusive. | Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-49(1) · Miss. Code Ann. § 11-7-13 |
| Missouri | 3 years | 3 years after the cause of action accrues. Note precisely: § 537.100's current text (as amended by 2018 S.B. 871) does not itself define 'accrue' as the date of death — that specific trigger point is not spelled out verbatim in this limitations provision. It is longstanding Missouri practice to treat a wrongful-death cause of action as accruing on the date of death, but that characterization is not literal statutory text.Shorter trap: If a defendant is absent from Missouri such that personal service cannot be made, that absence period does not count toward the 3-year deadline (tolls the clock). After a nonsuit, an arrested judgment, or a reversal on appeal, a new action may be filed within 1 additional year of that event. Once filed, the defendant must be served within 180 days of filing or the case is dismissed (with prejudice if there was a prior nonsuit). | Strict tiered priority, one class at a time — a later class may sue only if no one in an earlier class exists: Class 1 — spouse, children (or the surviving lineal descendants of a deceased child), or the father or mother of the decedent; Class 2 — if no Class 1 person exists, a brother or sister of the decedent, or their descendants, who can establish a right to share in damages; Class 3 — if no Class 1 or 2 person exists, a court-appointed 'plaintiff ad litem,' appointed on application of a person entitled to share in the proceeds. Only one action may be brought against any one defendant for the death of any one person. | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100 · Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.080 |
| Montana | 3 years | 3 years generally; extended to 10 years if the wrongful death resulted from a homicide. Note: this limitations section's own text does not specify whether the 3-year clock runs from the date of death or from the date of the wrongful act/neglect — that accrual trigger is not stated in § 27-2-204 itself.Shorter trap: If death resulted from alleged MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, a much narrower and separate window controls instead of the general 3-year wrongful-death period: Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-205 requires the action within 2 years of the date of injury OR 2 years of discovery (whichever occurs LATER), with an absolute outside cap of 5 years from the date of injury. Critically, this clock runs from the date of the malpractice/injury — NOT the date of death — so a slow-developing fatal injury can time-bar the claim even though the death itself was recent. | Personal representative of the decedent's estate only — family members/heirs are not proper plaintiffs themselves; the action must be brought in the name of the estate's personal representative, against the person who caused the death or (if that person was an employee) also against the responsible employer. Any recovery is then distributed under Montana's separate wrongful-death damages provisions. | Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204 · Mont. Code Ann. § 27-1-513 |
| Nebraska | 2 years | The wrongful death action must be commenced within 2 years after the DATE OF DEATH, not the date of the underlying injury or wrongful act. | Brought by and in the name of the personal representative of the decedent's estate, for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse (widow/widower) and next of kin — not a direct claim by family members themselves. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-810 |
| Nevada | 2 years | General (non-medical) wrongful-death claims are subject to Nevada's 2-year limitation under NRS 11.190(4)(e) ('an action to recover damages for injuries to a person or for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another'), running from the date of death. EXCEPTION — medical malpractice: NRS 41A.097 sets THREE different discovery-based limits depending on the date of injury, most recently amended effective October 1, 2023. For injuries occurring ON OR AFTER October 1, 2023 (i.e., the rule applicable to current and future claims), subsection 3 caps a wrongful-death claim against a health care provider at 3 years after the date of injury OR 2 years after the plaintiff discovers (or reasonably should have discovered) the injury, whichever occurs first. (Injuries occurring 10/1/2002–9/30/2023 were instead subject to a 3-year/1-year-discovery rule under subsection 2, and injuries before 10/1/2002 to a 4-year/2-year rule under subsection 1 — both now largely time-barred for new filings.)Shorter trap: Nevada wrongful-death claims against a health care provider are NOT governed by the general 2-year rule. NRS 41A.097 was amended effective October 1, 2023: for injuries occurring on/after that date (the rule that matters for virtually all present and future claims), the limit is 3 years from date of injury OR 2 years from discovery, whichever is earlier — NOT 1 year from discovery. The 1-year-discovery figure only applied to the now largely time-barred window of injuries between 10/1/2002 and 9/30/2023. | Both the heirs of the decedent AND the personal representative of the decedent's estate may EACH independently maintain a wrongful death action against the person who caused the death (the two claims arising from the same act may be joined). | NRS 11.190(4)(e) · NRS 41.085 |
| New Hampshire † | Rule-based | New Hampshire has no standalone wrongful-death tort. The decedent's own personal-injury claim survives death (RSA 556:7, 556:9) and wrongful-death-type damages are added to it by the estate's administrator (RSA 556:12). If no action was already pending when the person died, a NEW action must be commenced within 6 years after the DATE OF DEATH — but RSA 556:11 itself makes this expressly 'subject to the provisions of RSA 508', New Hampshire's general personal-injury limitations chapter, which requires the underlying tort claim to be brought within 3 years of the act or omission causing the injury (with a discovery-rule extension where the injury and its cause were not reasonably discoverable at the time, RSA 508:4). Because the two provisions interact, the real-world deadline is not a single clean number and can be materially shorter than 6 years depending on when the injury occurred relative to the death.Shorter trap: New Hampshire's wrongful-death time limit is NOT a simple number: RSA 556:11's 6-years-after-death rule is expressly made subject to RSA 508 (the general 3-year personal-injury statute of limitations, RSA 508:4), and how the two provisions interact in practice needs case-law confirmation — do not present this to users as a flat '6 years'. | New Hampshire has no independent wrongful-death action brought directly by family members. The decedent's personal-injury claim survives death and is prosecuted by and in the name of the administrator (or executor) of the decedent's estate, under RSA Chapter 556 ('Suits by and Against Administrators'); any recovery passes through the estate rather than being a direct claim of the surviving spouse or children. | RSA 556:11 (time/manner of the post-death action) · RSA 556:7 (see also RSA 556:9, 556:11, 556:12 — RSA Chapter 556, 'Suits by and Against Administrators') |
| New Jersey | 2 years | The wrongful-death action must be commenced within 2 years after the date of the decedent's death (not the injury date). Exception: the time bar is removed entirely where death resulted from murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter for which the defendant was convicted (or found not guilty by reason of insanity, or adjudicated delinquent) — such an action may be brought at any time.Shorter trap: Claims against a New Jersey public entity or public employee require a notice of claim within 90 days of accrual under the NJ Tort Claims Act (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8), regardless of the general 2-year wrongful-death deadline — missing that 90-day window can forever bar the claim. | Brought in the name of an administrator ad prosequendum of the decedent (or, if the decedent died testate and the will was probated, the qualifying named executor or an administrator with the will annexed) — not directly by the surviving spouse or other family members. | N.J.S.A. 2A:31-3 · N.J.S.A. 2A:31-2 |
| New Mexico | 3 years | The wrongful-death action must be brought within 3 years after the cause of action accrues, and the statute explicitly fixes accrual at the DATE OF DEATH (not the date of the underlying injury). | Brought by and in the name of the personal representative of the deceased person — not directly by the surviving spouse, children, or parents — though the jury's damages award is ultimately distributed among the statutory beneficiaries (spouse, children, parents, etc.) per the distribution rules in the same section. | NMSA 1978 § 41-2-2 · NMSA 1978 § 41-2-3 |
| New York | 2 years | The wrongful-death action must be commenced within 2 years after the decedent's death (not the injury date). Two statutory extensions apply: (1) if a criminal action was commenced against the same defendant arising from the same event or occurrence, the personal representative has at least 1 year from the termination of that criminal action to sue, even if the normal 2-year period already expired or has less than a year left; (2) actions on behalf of decedents killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (other than a decedent identified as a participant/conspirator) had 2 years and 6 months from death.Shorter trap: If a criminal prosecution against the same defendant arising from the same event is pending, EPTL 5-4.1(2) gives the personal representative at least 1 additional year from the end of that criminal case to sue — this can revive a claim that looks time-barred under the plain 2-year rule. | Only the personal representative of the decedent's estate (duly appointed in New York or any other jurisdiction) may maintain the wrongful-death action — surviving family members (distributees) cannot sue directly. If the distributees are not otherwise involved in administering the estate and the named executor refuses to bring the action, they are entitled to have an administrator appointed to prosecute it for their benefit. | N.Y. Est. Powers & Trusts Law § 5-4.1 · N.Y. Est. Powers & Trusts Law § 5-4.1(1) |
| North Carolina | 2 years | Wrongful-death actions must be brought within 2 years, and the statute explicitly states the cause of action does NOT accrue until the date of death (not the date of the injury). IMPORTANT proviso: if the decedent himself would already have been time-barred from suing for his own bodily harm (had he lived) under North Carolina's medical-malpractice repose statute or the general 10-year discovery-based repose statute, NO wrongful-death action may be brought at all.Shorter trap: North Carolina bars the wrongful-death claim ENTIRELY if the decedent's own personal-injury claim would already have been time-barred before he died (under G.S. 1-15(c), the medical-malpractice repose period, or G.S. 1-52(16), the 10-year discovery-based repose for latent injuries) — a family can lose the right to sue even when filing well within 2 years of the death itself. | Brought by the personal representative or collector of the decedent's estate against the person or entity that would have been liable to the decedent had he lived — not a direct action by the surviving spouse, children, or other family members. | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-53(4) · N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-18-2 |
| North Dakota | 2 years | Wrongful-death actions are subject to North Dakota's general 2-year tort limitation, with the claim explicitly accruing at the DATE OF DEATH of the injured party (not the earlier injury). EXCEPTION — medical malpractice: where death results from malpractice, the claim instead accrues at the date the malpractice is DISCOVERED, but this discovery-based accrual cannot extend the deadline beyond 6 years after the malpractice act or omission unless the health care provider's fraudulent conduct prevented discovery.Shorter trap: North Dakota wrongful-death claims caused by medical malpractice use DISCOVERY-based accrual (not the date of death) under N.D.C.C. § 28-01-18(4), capped at 6 years from the malpractice act itself absent fraudulent concealment — materially different from the plain 2-years-from-death rule that applies to non-malpractice deaths. | The action must be brought by a RANKED list of persons, in strict order of priority: (1) the surviving husband or wife, if any; (2) the surviving children, if any; (3) the surviving mother or father; (4) a surviving grandparent; (5) the personal representative; (6) a person who had primary physical custody of the decedent before the wrongful act. If the person entitled to sue refuses or neglects to do so for 30 days after demand by the next-in-line person, that next person may bring the action instead. | N.D.C.C. § 28-01-18(4) · N.D.C.C. § 32-21-03 |
| Ohio | 2 years | A civil action for wrongful death must be commenced within 2 years after the decedent's death. The statute cross-references an exception in division (D)(2) of the same section, and separately, wrongful-death claims based on product-liability causes of action have their own extended/adjusted deadlines under division (F)(2) (e.g., a 10-year outer limit tied to product delivery date, with various carve-backs). | Brought in the name of the personal representative of the decedent, for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, the children, and the parents of the decedent (all rebuttably presumed to have suffered damages), and for the exclusive benefit of the decedent's other next of kin. A parent who abandoned the decedent as a minor child is excluded from receiving any benefit. | Ohio Rev. Code § 2125.02(F)(1) · Ohio Rev. Code § 2125.02(A)(1) |
| Oklahoma | 2 years | Two years. Oklahoma's wrongful-death statute (12 Okla. Stat. § 1053(A)) states only 'The action must be commenced within two (2) years,' without spelling out the trigger date in that clause. Because the wrongful-death cause of action is created by and only exists upon the decedent's death (it is brought by 'the personal representative,' and requires that the decedent 'might have maintained an action, had he or she lived'), Oklahoma courts treat the two years as running from the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury/accident. No medical-malpractice- or government-defendant-specific variant of this period was located within this section itself; claims against Oklahoma governmental entities separately require pre-suit notice under the Governmental Tort Claims Act, which is not part of § 1053. | personal representative of the decedent's estate only; damages (medical/burial, spousal consortium and grief, decedent's pain and suffering, pecuniary loss, and grief/loss of companionship) are then distributed by statute to the surviving spouse, children, or next of kin -- the surviving spouse/children/next of kin themselves cannot file directly. | 12 Okla. Stat. § 1053(A) · 12 Okla. Stat. § 1053(A)-(B) |
| Oregon | Rule-based | Not a flat number -- Oregon uses a discovery rule capped by an absolute deadline. ORS 30.020(1): the action must be filed within three years after the injury causing the death is discovered (or reasonably should have been discovered), but in no case later than the earliest of (a) three years after the date of death, or (b) any other applicable statute-of-ultimate-repose period (e.g. ORS 12.110(4), 12.115, 12.135, 12.137, 30.905) for the underlying act/omission. In the common case where the fatal cause is apparent at the time of death (most accidents), discovery and death coincide, so the practical result is 3 years from the date of death -- but latent-cause deaths (e.g. undiagnosed exposure) can start the clock later, while an applicable ultimate-repose statute can cut it shorter than 3 years regardless of discovery.Shorter trap: Some secondary sources flatten this to a simple 'three years' -- the statute is actually a discovery rule with a death-based cap and possible shorter repose periods, not a flat three-year clock from death. | personal representative of the decedent's estate only, suing for the benefit of the decedent's surviving spouse, surviving children, surviving parents, and any other person who would inherit personal property under the intestate-succession law of the decedent's domicile, plus (regardless of intestacy eligibility) any stepchild or stepparent. | Or. Rev. Stat. § 30.020(1) |
| Pennsylvania | 2 years | Two years. Pennsylvania has no dedicated wrongful-death limitations statute; wrongful-death claims fall under the general personal-injury/death clause of the state's two-year statute of limitations, 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5524(2). The clause itself does not spell out the accrual date, but Pennsylvania courts (Pastierik v. Duquesne Light Co., 514 Pa. 517 (1987)) hold that because the wrongful-death cause of action belongs to the statutory beneficiaries and only comes into existence at death, the two years run from the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury. This section (§ 5524) is the general rule; it does not carve out a separate period for medical-malpractice or government defendants -- claims against Commonwealth or local agencies are separately subject to the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act's notice requirements, which are outside this citation. | The right of action belongs only to the spouse, children, or parents of the deceased -- they may sue directly (no personal representative required), and any recovery is distributed among them in the same shares they would take under Pennsylvania's intestacy law. Only if no spouse, child, or parent is eligible does the personal representative of the estate step in, and then only to recover a narrower category of damages (hospital, nursing, medical, funeral, and estate-administration expenses). | 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5524(2) · 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 8301(b), (d) |
| Rhode Island | 3 years | Three years from the date of death, as an explicit statutory rule (not left to case law). Rhode Island's wrongful-death statute contains its own limitation clause: the default trigger is the date of death, but if the wrongful act, neglect, or default causing death was not known at the time of death, the three years instead run from discovery (or when it reasonably should have been discovered). This section was itself amended twice in 2023 (P.L. 2023, ch. 196 and ch. 256, both effective January 1, 2024), so confirm no further change post-dates this citation before relying on it for a live claim. | personal representative of the estate only (executor or administrator, in-state or out-of-state); the estate representative sues on behalf of statutory beneficiaries in a fixed split -- one-half to the surviving spouse and one-half to the children, or the whole to the spouse if there are no children, or (if no spouse) to the next of kin by the intestacy-distribution proportions. A separate 2023-added provision, § 10-7-1.2, lets a person who personally suffered loss of society/companionship/consortium sue in their own name for that specific loss. | R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-7-2(c) · R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-7-2(a)-(b) |
| South Carolina | 3 years | Three years, running explicitly from the date of death (not the date of the underlying wrongful act). South Carolina's general limitations statute contains a wrongful-death-specific item that states the accrual point in the statutory text itself, so no case-law inference is required. This is the general rule for South Carolina's Wrongful Death Act (Sections 15-51-10 to 15-51-60); no separate medical-malpractice- or government-defendant-specific variant is stated within this clause. | personal representative of the estate only (executor or administrator), suing on behalf of a strict statutory priority tier: (1) surviving spouse and child(ren) jointly; if none, then (2) parent(s); if none, then (3) heirs of the decedent. Lower tiers only benefit if every person in the higher tier is absent. | S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(6) · S.C. Code Ann. §§ 15-51-10, 15-51-20 |
| South Dakota | 3 years | Three years, running explicitly from the date of death (the statute names 'the death of such deceased person' as the trigger, not the date of the wrongful act). This is South Dakota's dedicated wrongful-death limitation clause; no medical-malpractice- or government-defendant-specific carve-out is stated within this section itself. | personal representative of the estate only (the action must be brought in the personal representative's name); the recovery is for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and children -- and only if there is neither a surviving spouse nor children does it shift to the parents and next of kin. | S.D. Codified Laws § 21-5-3 · S.D. Codified Laws § 21-5-5 |
| Tennessee † | 1 year | One year -- this is the state's single biggest wrongful-death trap. Tennessee has no wrongful-death-labeled limitations statute at all. Instead, § 20-5-106 provides that the decedent's own personal-injury cause of action does not die with them but 'shall pass to' the surviving spouse/children/next of kin/personal representative -- meaning a wrongful-death claim IS, legally, the decedent's personal-injury claim continued by the survivors. It is therefore governed by the ordinary one-year period for 'injuries to the person' under § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A), running from the date of death (when the claim accrues to the survivors), not by any statute that mentions 'wrongful death' by name. This is a well-established rule of Tennessee case law built directly on the § 20-5-106 'survival/passes to' structure, but because no single quoted clause uses the words 'wrongful death' together with 'one year,' this row is flagged needs_review rather than asserted as a directly-labeled statutory number.Shorter trap: Tennessee's one-year wrongful-death deadline is notoriously easy to miss because no statute uses the words 'wrongful death' next to a time period -- it is derived from the 'injuries to the person' clause via the survival structure of § 20-5-106. Confirm no more recent Tennessee Code amendment before relying on this for an active claim. | The right to institute the action follows a strict priority: (1) the surviving spouse, suing in their own name; if none, (2) the children of the deceased or the next of kin; the personal representative of the estate may also institute the action, and either the personal representative or the qualifying relative may use the other's name in prosecuting the suit. (A related section, § 20-5-106, sets who ultimately benefits/inherits the claim -- surviving spouse first, then children/next of kin, then, if the decedent was a minor in parental custody, the parents.) | Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A), read with § 20-5-106 · Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-107(a) |
| Texas | 2 years | Two years, running explicitly from the date of death -- the general Texas limitations statute states this accrual point directly ('The cause of action accrues on the death of the injured person'), so no case-law inference is needed. This is the general wrongful-death rule; Texas has a separate two-year period for health-care-liability (medical malpractice) claims under the Medical Liability Act (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 74) with its own, different accrual rules, which was not separately verified for this dataset and is not covered by this citation.Shorter trap: Texas's official statutes site (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) is now a JavaScript application that does not serve this text to a plain page fetch; the quote here was retrieved from an Internet Archive capture of the same official URL. The statute's own amendment history (last amended 2005) shows no changes after that date, supporting current validity. | surviving spouse, children, and parents may sue directly (any one of them may sue for the benefit of all) -- no personal representative is required initially. Only if none of them files suit within three calendar months after the death does the executor or administrator of the estate step in, and even then only unless all of the eligible relatives have asked that they not do so. | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(b) · Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004 |
| Utah | 2 years | Two years. Utah's general limitations statute lists wrongful death among the claims with a two-year period; the clause itself does not spell out the accrual date, but since the wrongful-death action belongs to the decedent's heirs and can only arise once the decedent has died, Utah courts treat the two years as running from the date of death. This specific paragraph was amended in the 2026 General Session (effective as of the version captured), so it is a genuinely recent (post-2023) change and should be rechecked before use in an active matter. No separate medical-malpractice- or government-defendant-specific period is stated within this clause.Shorter trap: This paragraph was amended by Chapter 130 of the 2026 General Session -- confirm the effective date against the live Utah Code before treating it as settled for a pending deadline calculation. | the decedent's 'heirs' directly, or the personal representative of the estate suing for the heirs' benefit (either is authorized to bring the action). 'Heirs' is defined by a companion section as: the surviving spouse; the decedent's children; the decedent's natural or adoptive parents; certain minor stepchildren who were financially supported by or resided with the decedent; and, only if none of the foregoing survive, other blood relatives under the ordinary law of intestate succession. | Utah Code § 78B-2-304(3) · Utah Code § 78B-3-106(1), read with § 78B-3-105 |
| Vermont | 2 years | 2 years, running from the discovery of the decedent's death (not the date of the underlying injury/negligent act). If the person against whom the claim accrues is out of Vermont when the cause of action accrues, the deadline is extended to 2 years after that person returns to the state. Where there is probable cause to charge the defendant with homicide, the deadline extends to 7 years after discovery of the death, or 2 years after the criminal judgment becomes final, whichever is later; for an intentional act constituting murder, the deadline is 7 years after discovery of the death.Shorter trap: The 2-year clock starts at discovery of the DEATH, not at the date of the accident, diagnosis, or injury that caused it -- a common source of miscalculation is counting from the underlying incident instead. | Personal representative of the estate only may bring the action (14 V.S.A. §1492(a)). Recovery is for the benefit of the spouse and next of kin and is distributed by the personal representative in proportion to each beneficiary's pecuniary injury: if a spouse survives with no children, the spouse takes the entire recovery; if there is no surviving spouse or children, a surviving parent who did not abandon the decedent or leave the decedent's support to the other parent takes the whole share (the other, abandoning parent is excluded); a parent who neglected or abandoned a deceased child is barred from any share in that child's wrongful-death recovery unless parental duties were later resumed and continued until the child's death; a spouse who abandoned the decedent-spouse is similarly barred from a share. | 14 V.S.A. § 1492(a) · 14 V.S.A. § 1492(a), (c) |
| Virginia | 2 years | 2 years after the date of death (Va. Code §8.01-244(B)) -- a separate, freestanding deadline that runs from death itself, not from the date of the underlying injury. Under §8.01-244(A), this 2-year wrongful-death window applies even if the decedent's own personal-injury limitations period (§8.01-243, generally 2 years from the injury) would otherwise have already expired before death, so long as no personal-injury action was pending when that period expired. If a wrongful-death action is filed within the 2 years but then abates or is dismissed without a ruling on the merits, the time it was pending does not count against the 2-year clock, and the case may be refiled within whatever period remains (a voluntary nonsuit is treated differently and follows the separate refiling rule in §8.01-229(E)(3)). | Personal representative of the decedent's estate only may bring the action (Va. Code §8.01-50(C)); individual beneficiaries (spouse, children, parents, etc.) cannot sue directly. Damages recovered are distributed to statutory beneficiaries under a tiered priority order set out separately in Va. Code §8.01-53. | Va. Code § 8.01-244(B) · Va. Code § 8.01-50(C) |
| Washington | 3 years | 3 years, via Washington's general 'catchall' tort limitation period, RCW 4.16.080(2) ('any other injury to the person or rights of another not hereinafter enumerated') -- Washington's wrongful-death statute itself (RCW 4.20.010) contains no dedicated limitation period, so courts apply this residual 3-year period, confirmed by the Washington Supreme Court in Fast v. Kennewick Public Hospital District, 187 Wash.2d 27 (2016). EXCEPTION: where the death resulted from medical negligence, the Medical Negligence Statute of Limitations controls instead (RCW 4.16.350(3)): the later of 3 years from the negligent act/omission or 1 year from when the negligence is or should have been discovered, with up to 1 additional year of tolling available for a good-faith mediation request under RCW 7.70.110.Shorter trap: Do not assume a uniform 3-year clock for every Washington wrongful-death claim: if the death was caused by medical negligence, the different Medical Negligence SOL (RCW 4.16.350(3)) applies instead of the general 3-year catchall -- the Washington Supreme Court held in Fast v. Kennewick Public Hospital District, 187 Wash.2d 27 (2016), that there is no tolling provision attached to the general catchall period, unlike the medical-negligence period. | Personal representative of the estate only may maintain the action (RCW 4.20.010). The action is for the benefit of statutory beneficiaries in strict priority order under RCW 4.20.020: first, the spouse/state-registered domestic partner and child(ren) (including stepchildren); if none of those survive, the parents or siblings of the deceased. | RCW 4.16.080(2) (applied to wrongful death under RCW 4.20.010) · RCW 4.20.010 |
| West Virginia | 2 years | 2 years after the date of death (W. Va. Code §55-7-6(d)), subject to the tolling/savings provisions of §55-2-18 (actions that abate or are otherwise renewed). Does not apply to deaths occurring before July 1, 1988. | Personal representative of the estate only may bring the action, and must be duly appointed (in West Virginia or elsewhere in the U.S. or a foreign country); if appointed outside West Virginia, the representative must post a $100 corporate-surety bond when filing (§55-7-6(a)). Damages are distributed among the surviving spouse, children (including adopted children and stepchildren), siblings, parents, and any persons who were financially dependent on the decedent or would otherwise be equitably entitled to share; absent such survivors, distribution follows the decedent's will or West Virginia's laws of descent and distribution (§55-7-6(b)). | W. Va. Code § 55-7-6(d) · W. Va. Code § 55-7-6(a) |
| Wisconsin | Rule-based | No single number applies -- Wisconsin splits the wrongful-death limitation period by cause of death. General rule: 3 years (Wis. Stat. §893.54(1m)(b)). EXCEPTION -- motor-vehicle deaths: only 2 years if the death arose from an accident involving a motor vehicle (§893.54(2m)), running from when the cause of action accrues (per case law, Christ v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 2015 WI 58, this is the date the injury is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered by the wrongful-death beneficiary). SEPARATE TRACK -- medical malpractice: wrongful-death claims arising from medical malpractice are governed not by §893.54 at all but by the medical-malpractice limitation, §893.55(1m): the later of 3 years from the date of the underlying medical injury or 1 year from when it was/should have been discovered (Estate of Genrich v. OHIC Ins. Co., 2009 WI 67, holding the claim accrues on the date of the medical injury, not the date of death).Shorter trap: Wisconsin's wrongful-death deadline is NOT one flat number: the general period is 3 years, but if the death was caused by a motor-vehicle accident -- the most common cause of wrongful-death claims -- the deadline shrinks to just 2 years (Wis. Stat. §893.54(2m)). Medical-malpractice deaths run on an entirely separate clock (§893.55) measured from the date of the underlying medical injury, not the date of death. | Two alternative routes to sue: the action may be brought either by the personal representative of the deceased, OR directly by the person to whom the recovery belongs (Wis. Stat. §895.04(1)) -- unlike most states, a statutory beneficiary need not always proceed through an estate representative. Recovery belongs, in priority order: to the surviving spouse or domestic partner (with a court-protected share set aside for any surviving minor children under 18); if none survive, to the deceased's lineal heirs (Wis. Stat. §852.01); if no lineal heirs survive, to the deceased's brothers and sisters. | Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(b), (2m) · Wis. Stat. § 895.04(1)-(2) |
| Wyoming | 2 years | 2 years after the death of the decedent (Wyo. Stat. §1-38-102(d)). The clock can be tolled: if an action to appoint the wrongful-death representative is properly filed, the 2-year period (and any other applicable limitation period) is tolled from the filing date until 30 days after the court enters the order appointing the representative (§1-38-103(b)(ii)). | A court-appointed 'wrongful death representative' -- not the beneficiaries themselves, and not automatically the estate's personal representative -- must bring the action, for the exclusive benefit of the statutory beneficiaries who sustained damage (Wyo. Stat. §1-38-102(a)). The representative is appointed by the district court in the county of the decedent's residence, death, claim accrual, or a defendant's residence (§1-38-103(a)), in a separate action filed solely for that appointment. | Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102(d) · Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102(a) |
Not sure which clock is running in your case?
Wrongful death deadlines are rarely as simple as one number — the start date, the defendant’s status and who holds standing all change the answer, and probate steps take time you may not have. A free, confidential case review puts your dates against your state’s actual rules.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to file a wrongful death lawsuit?
Most states give two years — 31 of 51 jurisdictions use that period — but Kentucky and Tennessee allow only one year, and several others run three. The bigger risk is not the number: in 34 jurisdictions a shorter trap applies, most often a government notice-of-claim requirement measured in months. Check your state's row below.
Does the clock start at the accident or at the death?
For the wrongful death claim itself, most states start the clock on the date of death, not the date of the injury — which matters enormously when someone survives an accident for weeks or months before dying. Some states run the personal-injury claim and the wrongful death claim on two different clocks for the same incident. The rule column on this page states, for each jurisdiction, which date starts the period.
Who is allowed to file the lawsuit?
This is the second thing that kills cases. In 4 jurisdictions only the personal representative of the estate may sue — a grieving spouse or child who files in their own name can have the case dismissed even though the deadline was met. Other states let the spouse, children or parents sue directly, and some list several co-equal potential plaintiffs. Every row below states who may file.
What is a notice-of-claim requirement?
When the defendant is a government body — a city, a public hospital, a school district, a state agency — many states require written notice of the claim long before the ordinary deadline, sometimes within 90 to 180 days of the death. Miss it and the claim is barred no matter how much time is left on the statute of limitations. Where our research found such a rule, it appears as a warning in the row.
Sources, method & reuse. Deadline and standing were researched separately for each jurisdiction against the cited statute, then challenged by an adversarial verification pass — which corrected, among others, the widely repeated claim that Arizona’s personal representative may only sue when no spouse, child or parent survives (the statute lists them as co-equal potential plaintiffs; the “if none survive” clause governs who receives the money). Rows with an open verification note are marked †. Survival actions, workers’ compensation death benefits and criminal proceedings follow separate rules and are out of scope here. This is legal information, not legal advice. Published under CC BY 4.0 — reuse with attribution to Settlement Insight Research.
Related: Wrongful death settlement calculator · Personal injury statute of limitations by state · Sexual abuse lawsuit deadlines