(a) If a person required to be named as a defendant is dead and the plaintiff knows of a personal representative, the plaintiff shall join the personal representative as a defendant.
§ 762.030.Defendant Dead Or Believed to Be Dead
Title 10. Actions In Particular Cases · Chapter 4. Quiet Title · Article 3. Defendants · Enacted 1980 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 762.030 tells a plaintiff how to handle a required defendant who has died: join the known personal representative, or, if none is known, file an affidavit stating that and join the decedent's testate and intestate successors, or a person merely believed to be dead, by name.
Full Text of § 762.030
(b) If a person required to be named as a defendant is dead, or is believed by the plaintiff to be dead, and the plaintiff knows of no personal representative:
(1) The plaintiff shall state these facts in an affidavit filed with the complaint.
(2) Where it is stated in the affidvit that such person is dead, the plaintiff may join as defendants "the testate and intestate successors of ____ (naming the deceased person), deceased, and all persons claiming by, through, or under such decedent," naming them in that manner.
(3) Where it is stated in the affidavit that such person is believed to be dead, the plaintiff may join the person as a defendant, and may also join "the testate and intestate successors of ____ (naming the person) believed to be deceased, and all persons claiming by, through, or under such person," naming them in that manner.
Plain-English Summary
Subdivision (a) is the simple case: if a required defendant has died and the plaintiff knows of a personal representative — an executor or administrator — the plaintiff joins that representative instead.
Subdivision (b) handles the harder case where the plaintiff knows of no personal representative, and knows the person is dead or only believes it. The plaintiff has to file an affidavit stating these facts. If the affidavit states the person is dead, the plaintiff can name “the testate and intestate successors of [the deceased], deceased, and all persons claiming by, through, or under such decedent” as defendants, in that exact form. If the affidavit only states a belief that the person is dead, the plaintiff can join the person by name and add the same successors language, phrased as applying to a person “believed to be deceased.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What if a person who should be a defendant has already died?
If the plaintiff knows of a personal representative, that representative is joined. If not, the plaintiff files an affidavit and may join the decedent's testate and intestate successors by the statutory naming formula.
What if the plaintiff isn't sure whether the person is dead?
Section 762.030(b)(3) lets the plaintiff join the person by name and also join that person's successors, described as belonging to someone “believed to be deceased.”
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1980, Ch. 44, Sec. 15.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: deceased defendant quiet title californiatestate and intestate successors quiet title