Article 14: Revivor and Survival of Actions · Not amended since original codification · Last verified July 22, 2026
R.S.1867, Code § 463, p. 470; R.S.1913, § 8031; C.S.1922, § 8972; C.S.1929, § 20-1410; R.S.1943, § 25-1410.
Section 25-1410 addresses one half of the revivor picture: what happens when it is the plaintiff who dies. The action may be revived in the names of the plaintiff’s representatives, meaning whoever the plaintiff’s right of action passed to at death. Which representatives that means depends on where the right went.
If the right passed to the plaintiff’s personal representative — the person or institution administering the estate — revivor happens in that representative’s name. If instead the right passed to the plaintiff’s heirs or devisees, and those heirs or devisees could support the action if it were brought fresh today, revivor may happen in their names directly, without going through a personal representative. That distinction matters because not every claim belongs to the estate generally; some rights, particularly those tied to real property, pass directly to heirs or devisees rather than through the estate’s administration.
Section 25-1411 supplies the mirror-image rule for a deceased defendant, and § 25-1412 addresses the specific situation of a defendant’s death in an action to recover real property. Together, these three sections tell you whose name goes on the revived case, while §§ 25-1406 through 25-1409 tell you the mechanics of getting there.
It depends on where the plaintiff’s right of action passed. If it passed to the personal representative, revivor is in that representative’s name. If it passed to heirs or devisees who could support the action if brought anew, revivor may be in their names.
Yes, where the right of action passed to them rather than to the personal representative, and they could support the action if it were brought fresh.
The statute does not itself categorize claim types; it turns on where the right of action passed under the circumstances of the case, which often depends on the nature of the claim and the decedent’s estate plan.
Section 25-1414 sets time limits on reviving in the names of a plaintiff’s representatives or successor, generally requiring the defendant’s consent after a year has passed from when the order could first have been made.