Death of a Party and Abatement of a Suit (Order 22 CPC) (2026)
What happens when a party to a civil suit dies: substitution of legal representatives, abatement under Order 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the time limits, and how to set aside an abatement. Last verified October 2026.
Explainer · Civil Procedure · CPC
When a party to a civil suit dies, the suit does not simply stop. If the right to sue survives, the legal representatives of the dead party must be brought on record. Order 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 sets out how this is done, and what happens if it is not done in time. If no application to substitute the legal representatives is made within the time allowed, the suit abates, which means it comes to an end so far as that party is concerned. This explainer sets out the time limits, how abatement works, and how to set it aside. Last verified October 2026.
- What it is: Order 22 CPC governs the death of a party and the substitution of legal representatives.
- Substitution: apply within 90 days of the death (Article 120, Limitation Act 1963), or the suit abates.
- Set aside: apply to set aside the abatement within 60 days of abatement (Article 121), with Section 5 condonation available.
- Survival: the suit abates only where the right to sue does not survive to the remaining parties.
01Why death of a party is a trap
The death of a party is one of the most common ways a good case is lost on a technicality. A suit can run for years, and if a plaintiff or defendant dies and nobody moves to bring in the legal representatives within the time allowed, the suit abates by operation of law. No order is needed for that to happen.
Reviving an abated suit is harder than preventing abatement in the first place. It needs a separate application and, often, an application to condone delay. So the safe practice is to act quickly once a death is known, and to diarise the limitation dates the moment a party passes away.
02What Order 22 covers
Order 22 of the CPC deals with the death, marriage and insolvency of parties. On death, its main rules are these.
- Rule 1: a suit does not abate if the right to sue survives.
- Rule 2: where one of several plaintiffs or defendants dies and the right to sue survives to the others, the court records this and the suit continues.
- Rule 3: on the death of a sole plaintiff or one of several plaintiffs, where the right to sue does not survive to the others, the legal representatives must be brought on record; if not, the suit abates so far as the deceased plaintiff is concerned.
- Rule 4: the same procedure applies on the death of a defendant.
- Rule 9: where a suit abates, no fresh suit can be brought on the same cause of action, but the abatement can be set aside on sufficient cause.
A legal representative is wider than an heir
A legal representative under the CPC is the person who in law represents the estate of a dead person. This can include an executor, an administrator, or an heir who intermeddles with the estate. It is not limited to a named heir in a will.
03Does the right to sue survive
The first question on any death is whether the right to sue survives. If it does not, there is nothing to continue and no substitution is needed. If it does, the legal representatives must be brought on record or the suit will abate.
Personal claims that die with the person, such as a claim for defamation or for personal injury of a purely personal nature, may not survive. Claims about property, money, or an estate usually do survive to or against the legal representatives. The rule of thumb, from the old maxim, is that a personal action dies with the person, but this is applied with care and depends on the nature of the claim.
04The time limits that matter
Two limitation periods govern a death in a suit, and mixing them up is a common error.
| Step | Time limit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Apply to substitute the legal representatives | 90 days from the date of death | Article 120, Limitation Act 1963 |
| Suit abates if no application is made | automatically, on expiry of the 90 days | Order 22 Rules 3 and 4 |
| Apply to set aside the abatement | 60 days from the date of abatement | Article 121, Limitation Act 1963 |
The abatement is automatic. Once the 90 days pass with no substitution application, the suit stands abated by force of law, and the party must then move under Rule 9 to set the abatement aside, within a further 60 days.
05Setting aside an abatement
Where a suit has abated, Rule 9 lets the court set the abatement aside if the party shows sufficient cause for not substituting the legal representatives in time. This application has its own 60 day limit under Article 121 of the Limitation Act.
Section 5 of the Limitation Act, which allows delay to be condoned on sufficient cause, is expressly available for a Rule 9 application to set aside abatement. Courts generally take a liberal view, because Order 22 is procedure, not a trap meant to defeat a genuine claim, and a litigant should not lose a case because an advocate or a party learned of a death late. Even so, the party must put the delay on affidavit and explain it honestly.
Abatement is automatic after 90 days, but it is not the end. A party has a further 60 days to apply to set it aside, and delay can be condoned on sufficient cause.
06Practical points for counsel
A few practical steps reduce the risk. Report a death to the court as soon as it is known, and move for substitution well within 90 days. Where the death is discovered late, file the substitution application together with an application to set aside the abatement and, if needed, an application under Section 5 to condone delay, rather than filing them one after another.
Bringing legal representatives on record under Order 22 is different from adding a party under Order 1 Rule 10 of the CPC, which deals with impleadment of a new party, not succession to a dead one. If the suit has reached appeal, the same rules apply to the death of a respondent or an appellant, so the dates must be watched at every stage.
07Where Claw fits
Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.
When a party has died, the clock on substitution and then on setting aside an abatement runs quietly, and a single date lost in a busy docket can end a suit for good. Claw keeps your live matters in view, following their hearings, orders and status across 9,102 courts, benches and forums so a limitation date does not slip past. On the research side, a library of more than 30 crore judgments, searchable by party name, by advocate or by the Order 22 point in issue, comes back in under 5 seconds, so you can see in moments how courts have weighed sufficient cause for a late substitution.
Your filings and case papers stay yours; Claw does not use customer documents to train its AI models. Open a free Claw account to put a death-and-substitution matter on watch and pull the case law behind your application. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.
08Sources and further reading
- India Code (official text of the CPC, 1908, and the Limitation Act, 1963): indiacode.nic.in
- Order 22, CPC (bare text): devgan.in/cpc
- iPleaders (commentary on abatement): blog.ipleaders.in
- Claw: clawlaw.in
This explainer is general information, not legal advice. Limitation is counted on the facts of each case, so check the current text and take advice from counsel before you act.
09Frequently asked questions
What is abatement of a suit under Order 22 CPC?
Abatement is the ending of a suit, or part of it, when a party dies and no application to bring the legal representatives on record is made within the time allowed by law. It happens automatically on expiry of the 90 day period, and no formal order is needed for the suit to abate.
How long do I have to substitute the legal representatives?
The limit is 90 days from the date of death, under Article 120 of the Limitation Act, 1963. If no substitution application is made within that period, the suit abates so far as the deceased party is concerned.
Can an abatement be set aside?
Yes. Under Order 22 Rule 9, the court can set aside an abatement if the party shows sufficient cause for not applying in time. The application must be made within 60 days of the abatement under Article 121, and delay can be condoned under Section 5 of the Limitation Act.
Does every suit abate when a party dies?
No. A suit abates only where the right to sue does not survive to the remaining parties. If the right to sue survives, the suit continues, and where one of several parties dies and the right survives to the others, the court simply records the death and the suit goes on.
Who is a legal representative under the CPC?
A legal representative is the person who in law represents the estate of a dead person. This can include an executor, an administrator, or an heir who intermeddles with the estate. It is wider than a named heir in a will.
Can I track a matter where a party has died in Claw?
Yes. Claw follows a live suit where a party has died, tracking its hearings and orders across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, and lets you search 30 crore+ judgments on Order 22 by party or advocate name, with answers in under 5 seconds. It researches and tracks the matter but does not give legal advice.