The Perils of Dying at the Wrong Time of the Day!

It is usually never a good time to die, but did you know that the exact time of day of your death could have major consequences for who inherits your estate? This is a genuine and very real problem for [married] couples who jointly own property and die in a common accident. The operation of Property Laws of Succession in relation to joint assets, combined with a ‘rule’ to determine who is deemed to die first in an accident, creates unexpected results and has devastating financial consequences when couples die either Intestate (without a Will) or with poorly drafted wills that each have different beneficiaries.

Acommon example will show the various permutations that can so easily occur.Husband(H– aged66) and Wife (W– aged65) have no children and die in a motorway crash. They have no children.Hhas no surviving parents, but a brother he has not seen or spoken to for 25 years. TheWhas a sister. They own their home (worth £275,000) and very modest savings of £25K each in ISA’s. The house is held as ‘Joint Tenants’ at the Land Registry. They have made home-made wills leaving everything to each otherprovided the other survives by 28 days. They have each provided for a final distribution if they are the survivor.Hhas requested all his wealth goes to the Donkey Sanctuary. TheWhas named her nephews and nieces,as their mother (W’s sister) has dementia and lives in a care home.

What happens if the‘motorway pile up’ scenario happens and both die on the M62? Three possibilities(and two outcomes)exist:

NeitherHnorWwill have contemplated these outcomes.

Would the position be any different ifHandWhad not made wills? The situation would be even more disastrous! If the only change of circumstances is the lack of wills, the scenarios now produce the following distributions:

Three solutions exists:

The observantreader of this article will have noticed a major ‘flaw’inthewillsH&Whave written. No accident occurs and one party dies of natural causes and their spouse inherits everything. Straight forward and entirely in accordance with their wishes. However, when the survivor dies a decade later, the combined wealth is passing solely to one side of the family. Had both contemplated £325K only passing in accordance with the wishes of the survivor to the exclusion of the wishes of the first to die? We are again in the territory of ‘chance’ with the role of the dice determining who will eventually inherit.

Ask yourself whether your will is water-tight or does it have spurious outcomes based upon orders of death over whichyou have no control? If so you needyour willsprofessionallyexaminedto remove these anomalies. Don’t tell your beneficiaries that they are well providedfor so long as you die at the right time of day!