The Wrongful Death Act N.J.S.A. 2A:31-3 provides that a wrongful death action must be commenced within two years of the death of the decedent and not thereafter. This limitation period has been considered a substantive statute of limitations. Marshall v. Geo. M. Brewster & Son, Inc., 68 N.J. Super. 399, 403, 172 A.2d 458 (App.Div.1961), rev'd on other grounds, 37 N.J. 176, 180 A.2d 129 (1962). A substantive statute of limitations conditions not only the remedy but also the right. Negron v. Llarena, 156 N.J. 296, 300, 716 A.2d 1158 (1998); see 22A Am.Jur.2d Death 57, 76 (1988). As a substantive statute of limitations, the limitation period of the Wrongful Death Act has been applied strictly. Kaczmarek v. New Jersey Turnpike Auth., 77 N.J. 329, 339, 390 A.2d 597 (1978); White v. Violent Crimes Compensation Bd., 76 N.J. 368, 374, 388 A.2d 206 (1978). On the other hand, the fictitious name practice allowed by R. 4:26-4 is permissible in a wrongful death action. Brown v. Kennedy Mem'l Hosp., 312 N.J. Super. 579, 587-88, 711 A.2d 1370 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 156 N.J. 426, 719 A.2d 1024 (1998). Statutes of limitations, whether substantive or procedural in nature, are designed to encourage the litigation of fresh complaints and to provide a defendant with prompt notice of a claim in order to prepare a defense to the claim. Ochs v. Federal Ins. Co., 90 N.J. 108, 112, 447 A.2d 163 (1982); Galligan v. Westfield Centre Serv., Inc., 82 N.J. 188, 191-92, 412 A.2d 122 (1980); Staub v. Eastman Kodak Co., 320 N.J. Super. (App.Div.) 34, 49-50, 726 A.2d 955, certif. denied, 161 N.J. 334, 736 A.2d 527 (1999).