120 hours. \u00a0That is how long a devisee or heir must out-live a decedent\u00a0 to lay claim to an inheritance. \u00a0Die within that time frame, and it is considered a common disaster in estate planning terms.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s delve into the details.\u00a0 For an heir (who takes if the decedent was foolish enough to die without a Will), the 120- hour rule is absolute.\u00a0 For a devisee (a beneficiary under the Will), the 120- hour rule is only effective if the Will fails to address a survivor period.<\/p>\n
Most well-drafted Wills contain a time-of-survivor period of 30 to 90 days.\u00a0 If the devisee outlasts the survivor period, then he gets the bequest.\u00a0 If he outlasts the survivor period but dies before he actually receives the bequest, then his estate receives the bequest.\u00a0 If he dies before the end of the survivor period, however, he is treated as if he died before the decedent.<\/p>\n
Sometimes a drafter gets a little sloppy, and then it\u2019s chaos.\u00a0 That is what happened on the nearly identical Wills of Vencie and Melba Beard, a married couple.\u00a0 Each Will contained a clause that stated \u201cif both my [husband\/wife and I] die in a common disaster or under circumstances making it impossible to determine [who] died first \u2026..I bequest [specified cash amounts to nine individuals]. \u201c\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Later in the Will was a provision that other individuals would take the property if the spouse failed to survive by 90 days.<\/p>\n
Sure enough,\u00a0\u00a0 Vencie shot and killed Melba, and then killed himself less than 2 hours later.<\/p>\n
The issue was whether the murder-suicide\u00a0 was a \u201ccommon disaster.\u201d\u00a0 If it was, then the 9 individuals took their bequest.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t, then the 9 individuals took nothing, and the estate passed to other beneficiaries.<\/p>\n
The Texas Supreme Court got involved, and decided that\u00a0 the Beards did not die in a common disaster because it was possible to determine who died first.\u00a0 The 9 individuals took nothing.\u00a0 Stephens v. Beard<\/em>, opinion issued March 18, 2016<\/p>\n Writing a good Will is more challenging than it may appear.<\/p>\n Hammerle Morris Law Firm. Give us a call.\u00a0 We can help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 120 hours. \u00a0That is how long a devisee or heir must out-live a decedent\u00a0 to lay claim to an inheritance. \u00a0Die within that time frame, and it is considered a common disaster in estate planning terms. Now let\u2019s delve into the details.\u00a0 For an heir (who takes if the decedent was foolish enough to die […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-wills-trusts"},"yoast_head":"\n