What Happens if My Spouse and I Die at the Same Time?
Updated 4/5/24
There could be years or decades between the deaths of spouses. For example, a partner may pass away in a tragic accident or from an illness within a few years of getting married. On the other hand, the couple may be married for decades before a spouse passes away.
Sadly, some families lose two people at the same time. For example, spouses may be involved in a car accident that claims both their lives, or spouses may die within a few weeks of each other from different causes. Working with a Maryland estate planning attorney can help avoid problems that might arise if you and your spouse die simultaneously or within a short period.
Which Spouse Died First?
Most spouses leave everything to their surviving spouse in their Will. Therefore, when spouses die simultaneously and there is no surviving spouse, there becomes an issue of who inherits the combined estates. The issue is that each spouse's Will also has provisions for what happens to their estate if the other spouse dies before them. In other words, who receives the property if the person's spouse has already died?
While many spouses leave their property to each other and then to their children, their Wills could conflict. For example, the Wills for spouses in a blended family may leave their assets to children from a previous marriage. Therefore, if the husband dies a few seconds before the wife, the wife inherits the property. Her children can then receive the entire estate while the husband's children receive nothing.
Under common law, whichever spouse survived the other by just a few seconds would inherit from the other spouse. The property would then be distributed through the "surviving spouse's" estate. As you can imagine, this law often leads to inheritance battles by the spouse's heirs about which spouse doctors deemed to have died first.
Another issue is the estate tax. High-net-worth individuals engage in estate planning to reduce or eliminate estate taxes. They use various tools to minimize estate taxes, such as a credit shelter trust and unlimited marital deduction. Yet, tax savings could be jeopardized when a married couple dies simultaneously or close together. The available estate tax exemption might not work as the couple anticipated when they designed their estate plan, which could result in substantial estate taxes.
Some spouses include clauses in their Wills and estate planning documents that dictate how their estate should be handled if their deaths are close together.
However, unless you have medical evidence that clearly shows when each spouse died, a clause in a Will might not resolve the problem. Also, what happens if an adult child keeps a spouse in a medical coma while a step-sibling allows their parent to be removed from life-support?
There are numerous situations that common law or probate law does not adequately address regarding the simultaneous death of spouses. However, the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act clarifies how the estates will be probated in these situations.
The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act
Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia have all adopted the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, even though they did not adopt the Uniform Probate Code. By enacting laws that specifically address the situation of spouses dying close together, the lawmakers sought to reduce litigation and clarify how each estate should be handled in probate.
According to the law, if two people die within 120 hours of each other AND there is no Will explicitly addressing the situation, the law treats each estate as if each person predeceased the other person. The result is that each estate passes to the alternate heirs instead of passing through the other spouse's estate.
Other Uniform Simultaneous Death Act provisions could change a person's wishes for their estate. The best way to ensure your wishes are carried out after your death is to work with an estate planning attorney in Maryland. An attorney helps you identify your goals and wishes and then develops a plan to achieve your desired outcome using the existing probate, insurance, trust, tax, and other laws.
How Can I Avoid My Estate Being Subject to the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act?
When a married couple dies within 120 hours of each other in Maryland, the courts apply the state simultaneous death laws. The simultaneous deaths trigger two separate probate estates, resulting in additional costs and stress for the surviving family members. Whether the wife died first or the husband predeceased the wife, state law requires the spouses' estates to be treated as if they predeceased each other.
The husband’s estate is disbursed to the contingent beneficiaries named in his Will. If he did not have a Will, state intestacy laws determine who inherits the husband’s property. The same laws establish that the wife’s estate is disbursed to her contingent beneficiaries. Without a Will, her probate estate is distributed according to intestate succession.
This solution can create problems with jointly owned assets. A married couple’s estate may consist primarily of joint tenancy assets. Therefore, for a blended family, step-siblings may resort to litigation to determine what to do with jointly owned assets if they cannot agree on how to dispose of the assets.
Comprehensive estate plans usually include a simultaneous death claim in the Will. A tailored simultaneous death provision that requires the decedent’s heirs to survive them by a specific period to inherit from them. For example, one spouse may include a clause in their Will that requires their spouse to survive them for 30 days or the spouse is considered to have predeceased the deceased person.
In other words, a wife would need to survive her husband by 30 days to inherit from his estate. If not, the wife is presumed to have predeceased the husband for probate purposes. Therefore, the husband’s estate would pass to his secondary heirs according to the terms of his Will.
It is crucial to be specific and detailed in your Will about which spouse will be considered predeceased if they die simultaneously. An estate planning attorney can help a couple develop estate plans that provide the maximum savings of probate costs and taxes.
The provisions included in the spouses’ Wills and estate planning documents prevent the state’s Uniform Simultaneous Death Act from being triggered if the couple dies within 120 hours of each other. Therefore, the spouses have total control over who receives all the property from their estate, including the deceased person's accounts, separate property, and all remaining property.
Contact Our Maryland Estate Planning Attorney for More Information
Even with the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, failing to plan for a simultaneous death could cause problems for your heirs. Having a detailed estate plan when you pass away can avoid problems and issues, such as the one discussed in this blog. Maryland estate planning attorney Steve Thienel can help you develop an estate plan that addresses this and other issues. Reach out today for a consultation.
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