California sets no percentage on what a lawyer may take out of a wrongful death recovery. It protects families instead through what the contract has to disclose and what a judge has to approve. This page lays out both, who the Code of Civil Procedure lets sue, and what the courthouse on O Street charges to carry a case to trial.
Call (559) 340-5097No obligation · Written for Fresno · Fresno County
Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (559) 340-5097Charged under Government Code 70655(c)(1) for a Probate Code 3600 petition, on the schedule the Fresno court publishes.
Statewide Civil Fee Schedule published by Fresno Superior Court, item 138
Set under Government Code 68086(a)(1)(B), on top of $30 for any proceeding that runs an hour or less.
Statewide Civil Fee Schedule published by Fresno Superior Court, items 66-67
Section 377.60 groups them into heirs at (a), dependents at (b), and a dependent minor of the household at (c).
Rule 7.955(b) lists fourteen, three of them specific to the risk, advanced costs and payment delay of a contingency.
These are the ceilings the California rules put on a fee taken out of a recovery, not what any particular firm charges. A fee is set in a written agreement signed with the firm, and a ceiling is a limit rather than a going rate.
| What it covers | What California sets | What that means | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| The percentage in a death case | Left to the parties | No California statute limits it. Rule 1.5(a) prohibits an unconscionable or illegal fee and leaves the figure to be negotiated. | Cal. Rules of Professional Conduct 1.5(a) |
| The clause saying the rate is negotiable | Required by statute | Section 6147(a)(4) makes the written contract state that the fee is not fixed by law wherever section 6146 does not apply. | Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 6147(a)(4) |
| The statutory percentages people confuse with this | Medical negligence only | The 25 and 33 percent limits in section 6146(a) apply solely to professional negligence claims against health care providers. | Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 6146(a) |
| Standing to bring the claim | Heirs and dependents | Section 377.60 lists a spouse, domestic partner, children and issue, intestate takers, dependent relatives, and a qualifying minor of the household. | Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 377.60 |
| A fee paid out of a child's share | Court allowed | Rule 7.955(a)(1) applies a reasonable fee standard to money paid for a minor unless the court approved the agreement in advance. | Cal. Rules of Court 7.955(a)(1) |
| Attendance at the compromise hearing | Both must appear | Rule 7.952(a) requires the petitioner and the minor to attend unless the court dispenses with the appearance for good cause. | Cal. Rules of Court 7.952(a) |
Rule 1.5(a) of the California Rules of Professional Conduct forbids an agreement for, a charge of, or collection of an unconscionable or illegal fee, and no statute anywhere in California supplies a percentage ceiling for a wrongful death claim. The percentage on a Fresno family's contract came from the lawyer who drafted it. The law's answer is not to cap that figure but to force it into the open and, where a child is involved, hand it to a judge.
Rule 1.5(b) measures the fee against all facts and circumstances existing when the agreement was made, unless the parties contemplated that later events would affect it. The enumerated considerations include fraud or overreaching in negotiating or setting the fee, and material facts left undisclosed. They also include the amount of the fee in proportion to the value of the services performed, the relative sophistication of the lawyer and the client, and the results obtained. A grieving family is rarely a sophisticated buyer, and that asymmetry is on the list.
Business and Professions Code section 6147 governs the paperwork. Subdivision (a) requires a written contract signed by both the attorney and the client, or the client's guardian or representative, with a duplicate copy provided at the time it is entered into. It must state the agreed rate, explain how disbursements and costs will affect both the fee and the client's recovery, and disclose any compensation owed for related matters outside the contract. Then, at (a)(4), unless the claim falls under section 6146, the contract must state that no law sets this fee and that its amount is open to negotiation. If any of that is missing, subdivision (b) makes the agreement voidable at the client's option and limits the attorney to a reasonable fee.
Those two numbers circulate as though they were general injury law. They are not. Section 6146(a) applies only where a person seeks damages against a health care provider based on that provider's alleged professional negligence. It caps the fee at 25 percent of the amount recovered where the case resolves by settlement and release signed before a civil complaint or arbitration demand is filed, and 33 percent where recovery follows the filing. A death caused by a truck driver, a defective machine, or unsafe premises here sits outside that section, and a contract applying those percentages has borrowed the wrong statute.
Section 377.60 of the Code of Civil Procedure decides standing. Subdivision (a) covers the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children. Where no issue survives it reaches the people who would take the decedent's property by intestate succession, and it lets legal guardians step in where the parents are themselves deceased. Subdivision (b) adds, whether or not they qualify under (a), a dependent putative spouse and that spouse's children, stepchildren, parents, or legal guardians. Subdivision (c) reaches a minor who lived in the household for the 180 days before the death and depended on the decedent for at least half of their support. Any of them may sue, or the personal representative may sue on their behalf, and a percentage attaches to each resulting share rather than one lump.
Where part of a recovery belongs to a minor or a person with a disability, the fee stops being purely contractual. Rule 7.955(a)(1) requires the court to use a reasonable fee standard in approving attorney fees payable from that money, unless it approved the agreement in advance. Subdivision (b) gives fourteen nonexclusive factors, including at (b)(9) the informed consent of the minor's representative to the fee and at (b)(13) the risk of loss borne by the attorney, the costs advanced, and the delay in payment. Subdivision (c) requires a declaration addressing the applicable factors. Under rule 7.952(a) the petitioner and the minor both attend the hearing unless excused for good cause, and the court may require the examining physician to testify.
The fee schedule the Fresno court publishes puts a first paper in an unlimited civil case at $435, and the same amount is due from each other party filing an answer. Summary judgment is $500 under Government Code 70617(d), and a complex designation adds $1,000 for all plaintiffs plus $1,000 per defendant up to $18,000 for the case. The advance jury fee is $150 and nonrefundable. Court reporting runs $30 for a proceeding of an hour or less, then $440 per half day or $880 per day. On the probate side, a petition to compromise a minor's claim where no civil action is pending costs $435 under 70655(c)(1), a petition for appointment of a guardian of the estate is $435, and guardianship of the person alone is $225. Each is a case cost rather than a fee, and the contract should state who fronts them and what happens if the case ends with no recovery.
You do not need to turn a family loss into a legal project today. Keep the records, avoid signing away rights before the facts are clear, and get the claim structure reviewed by someone who can identify the correct California path. For a work-related death, ask whether the employer made the required Cal/OSHA report and preserve the worksite information before it changes.
Call (559) 340-5097No obligation · Written for Fresno · Fresno County