You can come up with estate plans on how your wealth will be shared when you pass away, but has the thought ever crossed your mind that both of you might die the same day, or a few weeks apart?
When coming up with a will, the common thought is that your estate will be distributed to your immediate spouse; the kids, grandkids and other loved ones after you are deceased. However, we have seen accidents and crimes that have ended up killing both spouses at the same time. It is sad, but it happens.
The Trend
Most couples have their property held in a joint tenancy. Here, when you pass away, the estate is passed down to the surviving spouse. The spouse is usually named as the primary beneficiary of the estate.
When both of you pass away at the same time, this joint tenancy agreement might not work as expected additionally, it becomes complicated if the probate court can’t determine who died first.
Many times, people think about this issue and include a titanic clause, which gives instructions on how things need to be handled when both spouses pass away.
The simultaneous Death Act
For people to handle the issues that come with simultaneous deaths, the Simultaneous Death Act was passed. This act stipulates that the law will regard each spouse to have died before the other one, as long as the deaths happen within five days of each other.However, you can come up with your own clause to negate what this says, make sure you put it in your will early enough.When simultaneous death happens, then this clause will come into play, and one of the partners will be named to be the one that died first, so as to make the inheritance process easy.
Crafting the Will
While many people think that coming up with a will is an easy thing to do, it isn’t. The language that has to be used in coming up with the will has to be precise and be legally applicable for you to achieve what you wish to.
It is therefore imperative that you enlist the services of a licensed estate planning lawyer to help you come up with a will that covers simultaneous death as well.
Let us look at the various scenarios where both parents perish at the same time.
Both Die Without A Will
When both of you die at the same time without a will, and then the elder of both of you will be seen to have died first. If the husband is older than the wife, then the wife gets a share of the assets.
But since both have passed away at the same time, the assets are transferred to the wife, meaning the wife gets more.
Since she didn’t have a will at the time of death, the assets are distributed according to the intestate law.
One Spouse Made a Will that Contained a Survivorship Clause
If you have a will, and you put in a survivorship clause, then this will override any other position that might be adopted.
The clause tells the executor how long your spouse will be alive after your death to be considered a beneficiary. This means if you pass away at the same time, then the assets that belonged to your wife will pass on to you, and you end up with a bigger share.
The opposite is true – if your wife included a survivorship clause in her will, and you died at the same time, then the survivorship clause will take over, and your estate will be distributed to her. After the distribution, the result will be shared according to the will of the wife.
Each one of You Have a Will Containing a Survivorship Clause
What if both of you have a will containing this clause? Well, when this happens, then there is no way to find out who died first. This means that any assets that the two of you leave behind will pass to the kids according to the wills that you set up.
In Closing
The chances of both of you passing away at the same time are remote, but this fact shouldn’t be taken for granted. This means that you need to talk to your estate planning lawyer to come up with these wills. Take time to understand what the will entails, and then communicate with your spouse about it.
