Under the current Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, who inherits if the decedent dies on July 1 and the husband dies on July 7, more than 5 days later?

• A. The decedent’s husband
• B. The decedent’s sister
• C. The decedent’s brother
• D. The estate escheats to the state

Answer: (D)

The key idea is how the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act handles who inherits when two people die within a short timeframe. The Act uses a 5-day window: if deaths occur within 5 days of each other, the statute presumes no one survived the other for purposes of their estate, so each estate is treated as if the other predeceased. Here, the decedent dies on July 1 and the husband dies on July 7, which is more than 5 days apart, so that presumption does not apply.

With no surviving heirs at the time the decedent’s estate would be distributed, and no other heirs described in the scenario taking precedence, there is no one to inherit the decedent’s property under intestate succession. When there are no eligible heirs, the estate escheats to the state. That’s why the correct outcome is that the estate goes to the state.