Rare accidents and natural disasters can happen ending with the deaths of multiple family members. When these tragic events occur, they result in situations where it cannot be determined who died first. Such occurrences are labeled as “simultaneous deaths.” Many individuals do not take into consideration that they might die at essentially the same time as their spouse, children or parents. These simultaneous deaths can cause inheritance problems. Individuals can plan for simultaneous death situations in their estate plan and most states have enacted intestate laws to address the problems and ease the administrative burdens associated with simultaneous deaths.
Uniform Simultaneous Death Act
The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act (the “Act”) has either been adopted, or enacted in some variation, by numerous states to help alleviate complications that arise from simultaneous deaths. Despite whether a decedent dies intestate or testate, the distribution of assets is determined by who survived the decedent. When it is difficult to determine the order of death for individuals, it is difficult then to determine how to properly distribute assets. The Act and many states’ probate statutes provide that an heir must survive the decedent by 120 hours to inherit from the decedent’s estate. Providing a time frame no longer requires attorneys or family members to have to prove the order of death to determine the distribution of assets.
The survivorship period can vary depending on state law. Additionally for testate estates, a Will or Trust can alter the length of the survivorship period and whether the individual is deemed to have survived or not to have survived the decedent. Nevertheless, inheritance can be significantly different with simultaneous death statutes.
Example without a simultaneous death statute: Husband and wife die intestate in a car accident and it cannot be determined who died first. If husband is declared or proved to have died first and wife second, then husband’s estate would pass to wife and then the entire estate would pass onto wife’s heirs. In some circumstances this would not be an issue, particularly if the couple had children, since the entire estate would ultimately reach the same beneficiaries. However, if there are no children involved, then only wife’s heirs (maybe parents, siblings, etc.) would inherit the entire estate and none of husband’s heirs would inherit any of his assets. The opposite would happen then if wife is said to have died first and husband second. Only husband’s heirs would end up inheriting the entire estate.
Example with a simultaneous death statute: If in the same example as above a simultaneous death statute existed, such as the 120-hour survivorship requirement, then wife would be deemed to have not survived husband and husband would be deemed to have not survived wife. In this situation, husband’s estate would not pass to wife but instead would pass to his heirs according to the state’s intestate statute and wife’s estate would pass to her heirs. Again, if children are involved, the children inherit the entire estate from both husband’s and wife’s estates. But, if there are no children then both husband’s family and wife’s family will inherit accordingly.
It is important to know what your state’s laws provide to have a full understanding of what could happen in the event of a simultaneous death. While you might think your state’s intestate laws are adequate for distributing your assets upon death, the consequences can be severely different depending on the law.
