The Columbarium: Who Died First?
The Columbarium is a free, weekly newsletter where the history of death and dying meets practical advice about the same. Enjoy this issue from the archive—and if you like it, consider signing up!
Throughout the research process for my dead parents book, learning about various aspects of death and dying hasn’t really shocked me. But estate law? That’s another story. Sure, the laws and statutes themselves are dull—but the cases that got us those laws and statutes are wild.
Take, for example, simultaneous deaths. Or, rather, “simultaneous” deaths.
My parents died in relatively quick but hardly simultaneous succession—mom in 2020, dad in 2023. But what would have happened to their estate if they had died at the same time? I don’t like to imagine my parents in horrible accidents, so let’s pretend they died tragically in…the Great Spaghetti Incident of 1987. So many lives were lost that day beneath the marinara.
Married couples typically have similar wills, but that doesn’t mean their wills are the same–and they probably contain provisions leaving their estate to another person or institution in the event of their spouse’s death.
The Great Spaghetti Incident of 1987 took place before my sister and I were even born—we’re out of the picture. So let’s say my dad’s will left all his money to one of his golf buddies in the event of his wife’s death. And let’s also pretend that in the event of my dad’s death, my mom left all her money to her alma mater, University of Florida. Go Gators!
If the spaghetti got them simultaneously, then dad’s golf buddy would get his money and the Gators would get mom’s. No problem. But surely they didn’t die at exactly the same time. One must have outlived the other by a few minutes at least. So whose will takes precedence?
There used to be lots of grisly court cases like this. My client was on life support for a whole hour longer than his spouse, etc. Understandably, the courts got sick of this—probably literally. In 1993, the Uniform Law Commission amended the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act to state that any “heir, devisee, or life insurance beneficiary who fails to survive by 120 hours (5 days) is deemed to have predeceased the decedent.”
That is to say, any deaths within 120 hours are considered simultaneous for legal purposes.
Hopefully simultaneous deaths are not something you have to consider when it comes to your parents. If you want to learn more about wills and trusts, you can do so here.
Source: Robert H. Sitkoff & Jesse Dukeminier, Wills, Trusts, and Estates, eleventh edition.