A six-month claim deadline calculator for deaths and injuries in California custody

If someone you love died or was hurt in a jail, a prison, ICE detention or a police encounter in California, this government claim deadline calculator can help you see the most important dates at a glance. The first one is short: a written claim against a California city, county or the State is generally due within six months.

The calculator gives estimates, not answers. Deadlines depend on facts, and the safest plan is to file well before any date shown here. Below the tool we explain the rules it uses, a worked example, and the limits of any calculator.

How the calculator counts six months

California's Government Claims Act requires a written claim before a lawsuit against a public entity for money (Government Code § 945.4). For a death or an injury to a person, § 911.2 says the claim must be presented "not later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action." In a death case, the clock generally starts on the date of death. In an injury case, it generally starts on the date of the injury.

California law says a "month" means a calendar month (Government Code § 6804), and a period is counted by leaving out the first day and including the last (§ 6800). So the calculator moves forward six calendar months to the same date. A death on January 15 gives July 15.

Some dates have no match. Six months after August 31 is not "February 31." When the matching day does not exist, the calculator uses the last day of the month, February 28 (or February 29 in a leap year). That is the earlier of the possible answers, which is the safer one. A death on March 31 gives September 30.

The calculator also shows a target date about 30 days before the six-month date. A claim can come back for missing information (§ 910.8), and families often need time to gather names and records. Filing early leaves room to fix a problem.

What if the deadline lands on a weekend or holiday?

Code of Civil Procedure § 12a says that if the last day to do something required by law is a holiday, the period is extended to the next day that is not a holiday. For this rule, "holiday" includes every Saturday, Sunday and court holiday. The calculator flags those days using the court holiday list in Code of Civil Procedure § 135.

When a date lands on one of those days, the calculator shows both the next court day and the business day before. Our advice is to treat the earlier day as the deadline. Offices close, mail is slow, and an argument about whether an extension applies is an argument you do not want to need. A mailed claim generally counts as presented on the day it is deposited in the mail, sealed, properly addressed and with postage paid (§ 915.2). Certified mail gives you proof of the date.

The other deadlines it shows

• Late-claim application: one year. If six months have passed, § 911.4 allows an application to file late, made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the claim arose. It is granted only on narrow grounds, such as excusable neglect, or when the injured person was a minor, was incapacitated or died during the six months (§ 911.6). Time while the injured person is a minor still counts.
• After a claim is filed: 45 days. The entity generally has 45 days to act, or the claim is treated as rejected (§ 912.4).
• After a rejection notice: six months to sue. The lawsuit must generally be filed within six months after the written notice is personally delivered or mailed (§ 945.6). If no proper notice is ever sent, the period is generally two years from when the claim arose.
• Federal civil-rights claims: generally two years. A lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against deputies, officers, nurses or a county for an unconstitutional policy or custom needs no government claim. In California it generally must be filed within two years (Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1).
• Federal agencies, including ICE: two years to present a claim. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a written administrative claim, usually Standard Form 95, must be presented to the agency within two years (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)). The agency then has six months to decide before you may sue (§ 2675).
• Private companies: generally two years. A private jail medical contractor or detention operator is not a public entity, so no government claim is needed. Wrongful death and injury claims are generally due within two years (§ 335.1). Claims against health care providers can follow different, sometimes shorter rules, so do not assume two years.

One event often creates several kinds of claims at once. A death in a county jail can involve the county, individual deputies and a private medical company. The shortest deadline controls the plan, and that is almost always the six-month claim.

A worked example

Suppose a man dies in a county jail on August 31, 2026, and the jail's medical care was run by a private contractor. His family enters that date and checks "city, county or State" and "private company."

Six-month claim	Six months after August 31 is February 28, 2027, the last day of February. That is a Sunday. Section 12a may extend it to Monday, March 1, 2027, but the conservative last day is Friday, February 26, 2027. The suggested target is Friday, January 29, 2027.
Late-claim limit	Tuesday, August 31, 2027, the outside limit for asking permission to file late.
Federal § 1983	Thursday, August 31, 2028, two years after the death.
Private contractor	Generally Thursday, August 31, 2028, but medical-provider rules can differ.

Now suppose the family filed the claim in January 2027, and the county mailed a rejection notice on Monday, March 15, 2027. The deadline to sue the county on the state-law claims would be Wednesday, September 15, 2027, six months after the mailing.

What a calculator cannot tell you

A calculator only knows the dates you give it. It cannot tell whether the clock started on a different day, for example when an injury was not discovered right away or when someone died days after the event that caused it. It cannot tell whether a special rule pauses or shortens a deadline, which entity must receive the claim, or whether the claim says enough. Families have also lost parts of cases because a claim described one problem, such as force, but not another, such as medical care. Our guide to the six-month government claim deadline explains what goes in a claim and where each county's claims office is.

If you are still asking whether there is a case at all, read can you sue if someone dies in jail in California. We handle police misconduct and wrongful death in custody cases statewide, with a partner on every case and Spanish-speaking lawyers. There is no fee unless there is a recovery, and the review is free and confidential.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information about California and federal law and about public records as of its date. It is not legal advice, and reading it or contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Allegations in lawsuits are claims, not findings. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.