When will a judgment be entered on a claim brought by a plaintiff against the deceased's personal representative?

When this complaint was filed there was no one in existence against whom a judgment could be entered on the plaintiffs' claim. The necessary party defendant was the personal representative of the decedent's estate acting in her official capacity. Cf. Prob.Code, 714, 573, 577; Mesmer v. Jenkins, 61 Cal. 151, 153. There was no personal representative appointed at that time and therefore there was no one against whom the plaintiffs could have proceeded.