Survival Requirements

To inherit under intestacy laws, an heir must outlive the decedent by 120 hours. For a beneficiary named in a will, they only need to survive the testator unless the will specifies a longer survival requirement, and there must be clear evidence that they survived the testator.

Alice passes away and leaves her estate to her brother Bob and her friend Carol. Bob dies 100 hours after Alice, while Carol survives Alice by 130 hours. Since Bob did not survive Alice by the required 120 hours, he cannot inherit, but Carol can take her share.

Survive 120 hours to thrive in intestacy; just survive the testator for wills!

Exams may present scenarios where the timing of deaths is close to the 120-hour mark, leading students to miscalculate survival times. Additionally, they might include ambiguous language about survival requirements in a will to confuse test-takers.

Questions often involve multiple parties with varying survival times, testing students on the application of both intestacy and will provisions regarding survival requirements.