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WHAT HAPPENS IN COMMON DISASTERS ?

In common situation, where husband and wife each leave their estates to the other, the death of both in the same accident creates potential difficulty with respect to the order in which they died.

The estate of the first to die passes to the survivor and upon the survivor's death the family property passes under the survivor's will or under the applicable intestacy rule - Distribution Act, 1958.

If they are survived by their children, they will be entitled to the estate. However if there are no children or if they die either or in the same accident, the situation is set for a disastrous struggle between the husband's relatives and the wife's especially where the order of their deaths is uncertain.

If husband and wife are involved in an accident which kills husband outright and results in injuries fatal to wife a few hours later, husband's property passes to wife and at wife's death to wife's relatives. Husband's relatives will take nothing, even though the property wife owned at her death comes largely from husband or his family.

Thus, bitter conflict and expensive litigation can be avoided by a proper will containing a common disaster clause providing for the distribution of family assets in the event of simultaneous deaths or death resulting from the same accident.

HOW IS THE ESTATE OF AN INTESTATE BEING DISTRIBUTED ?