California
Death Laws & End-of-Life Guide

At a Glance

The 8-day rule.

In California, a death certificate must be registered with the local registrar within 8 days of death and before the body is buried, cremated, or otherwise disposed of. The funeral home typically handles this.

Who files it.

The funeral director or person in charge of the disposition of the body is responsible for filing the death certificate. The attending physician, or since July 1, 2026 a nurse practitioner, completes the medical certification within 15 hours after the death. A coroner has three days after examining the body (Health & Safety Code §§ 102795, 102800).

Source: AB 583, Chapter 271, Statutes of 2025 (California Legislature) ↗

Who can order copies.

Authorized parties include: the registrant's spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner; the registrant's legal guardian or representative; or any person who can demonstrate a direct and tangible interest in the record.

• -California Department of Public Health (CDPH): cdph.ca.gov/vital-records
• -Cost: $26 per certified copy through CDPH; county offices and service fees may vary
• -Expedited service available through VitalChek
• -Allow 3 to 4 weeks for mail; county offices are often faster

Source: California Department of Public Health: 2026 vital-record fees ↗

Who can order a death certificate in California?

An authorized copy goes to a parent, legal guardian, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse or domestic partner of the person, someone with a court order, an attorney or a person appointed to act for the person or the estate (with the power of attorney or executor papers), a funeral establishment employee acting for those people, or the surviving next of kin under Health and Safety Code 7100, with a notarized sworn statement. Anyone else can get an informational copy marked not valid to establish identity. Certified copies come from California's California Department of Public Health, Vital Records (CDPH-VR), in Sacramento; the county recorder where the death was registered issues copies in person, by mail to CDPH-VR with form VS 112 and the notarized sworn statement, or in person at the county recorder; from July 1, 2026 the state office no longer accepts applications sent through online third-party vendors.

How do I get a death certificate in California?

Order certified copies from California's vital records office; this section's source link is the official process. The funeral home or cremation provider usually orders the first copies for you. Ask each bank, insurer, court, and agency whether it needs its own certified copy before you decide how many to order.

How much does a death certificate cost in California?

$26 per certified copy in California, as shown above. Additional-copy pricing varies; the official source linked in this section has the current fee schedule.

At a Glance

The threshold: $208,850.

For a death on or after April 1, 2025, the small-estate affidavit covers a gross value up to $208,850, so estates above that generally need formal probate. This is the gross value. Debts and mortgages don't reduce this number. The Judicial Council re-sets these figures for inflation every three years under Prob. Code § 890 and publishes them on form DE-300. The next reset is April 1, 2028.

Source: Judicial Council of California form DE-300: Maximum Values for Small Estate Set-Aside & Disposition of Estate Without Administration (Rev. April 28, 2025) ↗

The primary residence exception.

AB 2016 created a new procedure for a primary residence worth up to $750,000, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. Heirs petition the superior court for an order determining who succeeds to the home, instead of running a full probate. Faster and cheaper than formal probate. Before AB 2016 this procedure was capped at $184,500.

Source: Cal. Prob. Code § 13151 (petition to determine succession to primary residence) ↗

Small estate affidavit (under $208,850).

If the estate is under the threshold, heirs can use a small estate affidavit to transfer assets without court involvement. You must wait 40 days after death before using this procedure.

• -Wait 40 days from date of death
• -Estate gross value must not exceed $208,850
• -Works for personal property; real estate requires separate court petition
• -No court filing required. Present affidavit directly to financial institutions

What avoids probate.

Living trusts, joint tenancy property, community property with right of survivorship, accounts with named beneficiaries (POD/TOD), life insurance, and retirement accounts (IRA, 401k) all pass outside probate. In California, a well-structured trust can avoid probate entirely.

Handwritten wills.

California accepts a handwritten will with no witnesses if the signature and the material provisions (the parts that say who gets what and who's in charge) are in the person's own handwriting (Cal. Prob. Code § 6111). Statements of intent can be printed as part of a store-bought form will. A date isn't required, but an undated one fails wherever it conflicts with another will unless someone shows it was signed later, and it fails if the person lacked capacity at any time it could have been signed unless someone shows they had capacity when they signed. A typed will needs two witnesses present at the same time, and a court can accept one that misses that rule on clear and convincing evidence the person meant it as their will (§ 6110(c)(2)). A will valid where it was signed, or where the person lived when they signed it or died, is valid here (§ 6113).

Source: Cal. Prob. Code § 6111 (California Legislative Information) ↗Source: Cal. Prob. Code § 6113 ↗

How long does probate take in California?

A straightforward California probate typically runs 12 to 18 months, as shown in this section. Contested wills, missing heirs, or real property in other states stretch it well past that.

What is the small-estate limit in California?

$208,850. Estates under that figure can use the simplified process or affidavit covered above instead of full probate.

Do I need a probate attorney in California?

Not always. If the estate qualifies for the simplified process covered above, many people handle it without a lawyer. Hire one for full probate, a contested will, or property in more than one state. Before you hire anyone, know the fee structures: hourly, flat, and (in a few states) statutory percentages. Our probate attorney cost guide covers what each should run you.

Does California allow transfer-on-death deeds?

Yes. California authorizes the revocable transfer on death (TOD) deed under Cal. Prob. Code §§ 5600-5698. Record it while you’re alive and the property passes to your named beneficiary at death, outside probate, revocable any time before then. California's revocable TOD deed works for most homes but has extra rules; two witnesses, notarization, and a 60-day recording deadline; so follow the statutory form exactly.

Source: Cal. Prob. Code §§ 5600-5698 ↗

Time off work after a death in California

California is one of nine states that require a private employer to give bereavement leave. The limits matter as much as the entitlement.

Who it covers. Private employers with 5 or more employees, plus state and local government. The employee must have been employed at least 30 days before the leave starts. Until January 1, 2027, the covered family members are a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law. From January 1, 2027, under SB 1149, the list is a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or domestic partner, plus a designated person: any individual related to the employee by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. The employee can identify the designated person when requesting the leave, and the employer can limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period. Parent-in-law is no longer named in the list. Section 12945.2 defines parent to include a parent-in-law, and SB 1149 doesn't say whether that keeps a parent-in-law covered.

How much. Up to 5 days per death of a family member. The days need not be consecutive and must be used within 3 months of the death.

Paid or unpaid. Unpaid at minimum, but the employee may use accrued vacation, personal leave, sick leave, or comp time, and an employer with an existing paid bereavement policy must honor it (the statute tops the employee up to 5 total days).

SB 1149 (Statutes of 2026, chapter 679) was signed September 27, 2026 and amends § 12945.7 from January 1, 2027. It changes who counts as a family member. The bill leaves the 5 days, the 3-month window, the 30-day documentation window, and the pay rules as they are. California also mandates reproductive loss leave: Gov. Code § 12945.6 (SB 848, effective January 1, 2024) gives up to 5 days after a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction, capped at 20 days in any 12 months, with the same 5-employee and 30-day thresholds and the same unpaid-at-minimum structure. Both sections are on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

Source: Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.7 (AB 1949, effective January 1, 2023; amended by SB 1149, Stats. 2026, ch. 679, effective January 1, 2027) ↗Source: SB 1149, chaptered text (leginfo) ↗Source: Gov. Code § 12945.2, definitions (leginfo) ↗Source: Cal. Const. art. IV, § 8(c)(1), effective date of statutes (leginfo) ↗

Can I leave money to care for my pet in California?

Yes. California enforces pet trusts under Cal. Prob. Code § 15212, so money you set aside for an animal is legally binding on whoever you put in charge of it. The trust ends when the last animal that was alive on the day you died is gone, unless your trust sets an earlier end. California puts no year limit on it. Whoever you name in the trust enforces it, and if you name nobody a court appoints someone. California also lets anyone who cares about your animal, and any nonprofit whose main work is caring for animals, go to court over the trust, and it gives them the right to inspect your animal, the place it's kept, and the trust's books. No California judge can trim a pet trust for holding more than your animal needs, so write into the trust where anything left over should go; without that it passes under your will's residuary clause, and otherwise to your heirs. Put in more than $40,000 and the trustee owes a yearly accounting to whoever inherits what's left and to any animal charity that asks for one.

Source: Cal. Prob. Code § 15212 ↗

How to set one up, and what it costs →

Die without a will in California and this law picks your heirs.

If you die intestate (without a valid will) in California, Cal. Prob. Code §§ 6400 to 6414 decides who inherits everything a will would have covered. The shares depend on exactly who survives you: spouse, children, parents, siblings. What you told people you wanted doesn't matter. Only a signed will changes these defaults.

What your spouse gets.

What your spouse inherits depends on who else survives you. The four common family shapes:

• -Spouse only (no descendants or parents): all community property plus all separate property, unless a sibling or sibling's descendant survives (then 1/2 of separate property)
• -Spouse + parents (no descendants): all community property plus 1/2 of separate property; parents take the other half
• -Spouse + joint descendants: all community property; separate property splits 1/2 (one child) or 1/3 (more than one child) to the spouse
• -Spouse + blended family: same split, stepfamily status doesn't change the spouse's share
• -Source: Cal. Prob. Code §§ 6401, 6402, 6404

Children's shares.

The children take everything in equal shares; if a child died first, that child's descendants divide the share under the Section 240 system (division starts at the nearest generation with survivors).

No spouse, no children: the line of succession.

After descendants come the parents, then the parents' issue, then grandparents and their issue, then issue of a predeceased spouse, then next of kin, then the parents of a predeceased spouse and their issue; with no takers at all, the estate escheats to the State of California (§ 6404).

At a Glance

Two documents you need.

California recognizes two key advance directive documents: (1) the Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD), which names a healthcare agent and specifies your wishes; and (2) the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), which is a medical order for people with serious illness or advanced age.

How to make it valid.

Date it, sign it, and then either have it notarized or have two adult witnesses sign it. The witness rules trip people up, so read them twice. Neither witness may be your health care provider or that provider's employee, the operator or an employee of a community care facility or a residential care facility for the elderly, or the agent you named. On top of that, at least one of the two must be someone who isn't related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption and wouldn't inherit from you. Only one witness has to clear that second test, not both.

Source: Cal. Prob. Code § 4673 (legally sufficient directive) ↗Source: Cal. Prob. Code § 4674 (witness requirements) ↗

POLST: for serious illness.

The POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a medical order, not just a directive, that must be signed by a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. It specifies CPR preferences, level of medical intervention, and artificial nutrition. It travels with the patient across care settings.

• -POLST is for people with serious illness, frailty, or advanced age
• -Must be signed by a licensed healthcare provider
• -Bright pink form. Kept visible and accessible
• -Download form: capolst.org

Where to file it.

California maintains an Advance Directive Registry through the Secretary of State's office. Registration is optional but recommended. Your AHCD should also be given to your healthcare agent, your doctor, and any hospital or care facility where you receive care.

Where do I get California's advance directive form?

Start with Cal. Probate Code §§ 4670 to 4806 (Health Care Decisions Act), linked as this section's source. Use the current form or sample that the official source provides or identifies. Form authority and execution requirements vary by state, so confirm the source before signing and get legal help if your situation or the instructions are unclear.

Does California require a notary or witnesses for an advance directive?

California accepts either 2 adult witnesses or a notary, as shown in the requirements above; you don't need both. Anyone 18 or older of sound mind can make one.

At a Glance

What has to happen before a cremation.

The Health and Safety Code chapters that govern crematories don't set a minimum number of hours to wait. What actually gates the cremation is paperwork: the death has to be registered and a permit for disposition issued before any body is cremated, and the coroner has to clear the case where one is involved. That usually takes a day or more. A separate rule cuts the other way: once a crematory takes custody of a body that hasn't been embalmed, it has two hours to refrigerate it unless cremation will begin within 24 hours (Health & Saf. Code § 8346).

Authorization requirements.

Cremation requires written authorization from the person with the right to control disposition of the body. California law establishes a priority order: (1) person named in an advance directive, (2) spouse or domestic partner, (3) adult children, (4) parents, (5) adult siblings, (6) other relatives.

Scattering ashes.

Two different rules apply, and people mix them up. In the ocean, federal law governs: ashes go at least three nautical miles from land under the EPA's general permit, and you notify the EPA within 30 days. California's own 500-yard rule is about inland navigable waters, not the coast, and the state also bars scattering from a bridge or pier. On land, you need the owner's permission for private property and the managing agency's permission for public land.

• -Ocean scattering: at least three nautical miles from land, and notify the EPA within 30 days (40 CFR 229.1). A state can't relax this
• -Inland navigable waters: no scattering within 500 yards of the shoreline, and not from a bridge or pier (Health & Saf. Code § 7117)
• -File a verified statement with the local registrar for the county nearest the point of scattering
• -Private property: permission of the landowner required
• -Public land: permission or a permit from the agency that manages it

Source: EPA: Burial at Sea (MPRSA general permit, 40 CFR 229.1) ↗Source: Cal. Health & Safety Code § 7117 ↗

Natural burial and alkaline hydrolysis.

California permits natural (green) burial and alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation). Alkaline hydrolysis was legalized in California in 2017 (AB 967). Human composting (natural organic reduction) was legalized in 2022 (AB 351).

Home burial.

California doesn't permit home burial on private property. All burials must occur in a licensed cemetery. This is different from some other states.

Who decides what happens to the body in California

California sets this order by statute. The first person on the list who is available and willing decides, and a funeral home takes its instructions from them.

1. the decedent's own written directions under Health & Safety Code § 7100.1 (these displace the list rather than sit in it)
2. agent under a power of attorney for health care with the right and duty of disposition under Probate Code Division 4.7
3. competent surviving spouse
4. sole competent adult child, or a majority of competent adult children (less than a majority may act after reasonable notice with no known opposition from the majority)
5. competent parent or parents (one alone if the other cannot be located)
6. sole competent adult sibling, or a majority of competent adult siblings (same less-than-majority rule)
7. next degrees of kinship, or a majority of those of the same degree (same less-than-majority rule)
8. conservator of the person, when the decedent has sufficient assets
9. conservator of the estate, when the decedent has sufficient assets
10. public administrator, when the decedent has sufficient assets

Naming someone in advance. The advance directive does it. California recognizes an agent under a power of attorney for health care with the right and duty of disposition under Probate Code Division 4.7 (commencing with § 4600), and that agent sits at the top of the § 7100 list. Separately, the decedent's own signed written instructions under Health & Safety Code § 7100.1 override the whole order. There is no separate stand-alone disposition-agent affidavit.

When the same tier disagrees. Section 7100 states no court procedure. It resolves same-tier disagreement by majority rule within the class, with a carve-out letting fewer than a majority act if they've used reasonable efforts to notify everyone else in the class and aren't aware of opposition by the majority. Subsection (f) protects a funeral director or cemetery authority from liability for carrying out the instructions of the decedent or the person entitled to control, and subsection (e) directs that the section be administered so those instructions are "faithfully and promptly performed."

Being charged with first- or second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter in the decedent's death relinquishes control if the funeral director or cemetery authority knows about the charge, and the right comes back if the charges are dropped or the person is acquitted. Liability for the reasonable cost of final disposition falls jointly and severally on all kin of the same degree and on the estate. One trap worth naming: subdivision (h) puts a DD Form 93 designation at first priority for a service member, but subdivision (h)(2) makes that provision operative only if DD Form 93 and 10 U.S.C. § 1482(c) are amended to let a member designate anyone regardless of relationship. So on the face of the statute the military tier isn't live, unlike in Alabama, Arizona, and Arkansas.

Source: Cal. Health & Safety Code § 7100 ↗

If you can't afford the funeral in California

Three separate pots of money, on three different agencies' websites, collected nowhere. A family that qualifies for all three usually claims none of them.

1. When nobody can pay. County indigent disposition. There is no statewide California burial fund and no statewide dollar amount. The coroner or medical examiner in the county that has jurisdiction over the death. In Los Angeles County it's the Office of Decedent Affairs, part of the Department of Health Services, (323) 409-7161.

What it pays. Not published. Health and Safety Code 7104(b) says the county bears the cost and names no figure, so the amount is whatever that county spends. County fees that fall on the family do get published: Los Angeles County charges $352 to release cremated remains, or $466 when transportation was required.

What disqualifies you. Health and Safety Code 7104(b): "A county exercising jurisdiction over the death of an individual pursuant to Section 27491, or who assumes jurisdiction pursuant to Section 27491.55 of the Government Code, shall be responsible for the disposition of the remains of that decedent. If the decedent is an indigent, the costs associated with disposition of the remains shall be borne by the county exercising jurisdiction." Section 7104(a) adds a second route: when the person made no provision, or the estate can't cover interment, and the duty of interment doesn't fall on anyone else living in California, or that person can't be found after reasonable diligence, whoever has custody of the remains may require the coroner of the county where the person lived at death to take the body and inter it "in the manner provided for the interment of indigent dead." Each county writes its own proof of indigence. Government Code 27491 sets which deaths the coroner has jurisdiction over: violent, sudden, or unusual deaths, unattended deaths, deaths not attended by a physician in the 20 days before death, and a long list of others.

The official page ↗

2. If the death was caused by a crime. Up to $12,818 for the funeral, burial, or memorial service of a deceased victim. That sits inside an overall CalVCB cap of $70,000 per victim. No headstone, flower, or burial clothing sub-caps are published. For a double grave or double headstone, 2 CCR 649.18 limits payment to a single grave or headstone, or half the cost of the double, whichever is less. CalVCB can't pay coroner's charges, finance or interest charges or processing fees on a funeral and burial bill, a funeral or grave pre-purchased for the victim, alcoholic beverages, memorial jewelry or trinkets made from ashes, or memorial services beyond what's usual and customary in the person's culture. The application has to come from the person responsible for paying the funeral bill. CalVCB won't accept one filed by a mortuary, funeral home, or cemetery.

California crime victim compensation ↗

3. Money the person was already owed. Search California's unclaimed property before you borrow anything. Searching and claiming are free.

California unclaimed property ↗

Call the coroner or medical examiner in the county where the death happened. Do it today. That office decides, and California has no statewide program to fall back on. Two counties can matter here, so know which one you're calling. Health and Safety Code 7104(b) puts the cost on the county with jurisdiction over the death, which is normally the county where the person died. Section 7104(a) lets whoever has custody of the body instead require the coroner of the county where the person lived at death to take the body and bury it as indigent, when the person left nothing, the estate can't cover it, and no one else in California has the duty to bury. Start with the county where the death happened. If they say no, ask about 7104(a) and the county of residence. Don't sit on it. Under Health and Safety Code 7104.1, if the coroner notifies the person responsible for burial and that person doesn't act within 30 days, the coroner can bury or cremate the body and then bill that person for the cost. Silence isn't free. What the county actually provides varies. Los Angeles County cremates through the Office of Decedent Affairs, (323) 409-7161. If you want the ashes back, LA charges $352, or $466 when transportation was required, collected when the remains are released. LA County told its Board of Supervisors in April 2024 that it can't waive that fee itself, only the Board can, and that when a family says it can't pay, the county cremates and holds the remains for two years. Ask your county what its fee is and how long it holds ashes. If the person died because of a violent crime, apply to the California Victim Compensation Board. It pays up to $12,818 toward the funeral, burial, or memorial service, inside a $70,000 overall cap. It won't cover coroner's charges, interest or processing fees on the funeral bill, a pre-purchased funeral or grave, or alcohol. You file it, not the funeral home: CalVCB rejects applications submitted by mortuaries and cemeteries. Keep every itemized bill and receipt. Then check whether the person who died was owed money. California's unclaimed property is held by the State Controller and searched free at claimit.ca.gov. Old paychecks, deposits, and insurance payouts end up there, and an heir can claim them without paying anyone a fee.

At a Glance

No California estate tax.

California doesn't currently require a California estate tax return for a person who died after December 31, 2004. The State Controller explains that the federal state-death-tax credit was eliminated effective January 1, 2005. Older deaths remain subject to the historical filing rules described by that office.

Federal estate tax.

The federal estate tax basic exclusion amount is $15 million for a person who dies in 2026. Portability and filing rules can affect a married couple's available exclusion, so don't assume that two exclusions combine automatically.

Source: IRS: Frequently asked questions on estate taxes ↗

Capital gains on inherited property.

Federal tax law generally bases inherited property on its fair market value at the date of death, subject to exceptions and elections. California property-tax reassessment is a separate issue, and Proposition 19 changed the rules for certain transfers between parents and children or grandparents and grandchildren.

Source: IRS Publication 559: Survivors, Executors, and Administrators ↗

Does California have an estate tax?

No. California has no state estate tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for a married couple.

Does California have an inheritance tax?

No. California doesn’t tax inheritances. Heirs owe no state tax on what they receive.

What is the federal estate tax exemption for 2026?

$15 million per person, $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent. Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax.

At a Glance

Register through the DMV.

California uses an opt-in donor registry. You can register as an organ donor when you get or renew your driver's license or ID card, or online at RegisterMe.org. Registration is legally binding, and nobody else can make, amend, or revoke a registered donor's gift after death (Health & Saf. Code § 7150.35(a)). One exception: if the donor is an unemancipated minor, a parent who is reasonably available can revoke or amend the gift (§ 7150.35(g)). The same subdivision has a rule for teenagers: a donor between 15 and 18 can make, amend, or revoke a gift only with a parent or guardian's written consent. Organ procurement organizations still consult families in practice, so tell yours what you decided.

Source: Cal. Health & Safety Code § 7150.35 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) ↗

What can be donated.

Organs (heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines), tissues (corneas, skin, bone, heart valves, tendons), and bone marrow can all be donated. There's no age limit for donation. Medical professionals determine suitability at the time of death.