Under the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, which statement is true?

• A. It ignores deaths that occur within 120 hours of each other.
• B. It requires a 7-day survival period for heirs to survive the decedent.
• C. It deems any heir who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours to have predeceased the decedent.
• D. It is not applicable to intestate distributions.

Answer: (C)

This question tests how the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act handles deaths that occur within a short time of each other. The act uses a 120-hour window to determine whether someone survived the other for inheritance purposes. If an heir does not outlive the decedent by at least 120 hours, that heir is deemed to have predeceased the decedent. This avoids ambiguity and ensures the decedent’s estate passes to the decedent’s other heirs rather than through a person who did not survive long enough.

So the true statement is that any heir who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent. The other options don’t fit: the act does not ignore deaths within 120 hours (it treats them as simultaneous with the predeceased rule), the survival period is 120 hours (not 7 days), and the act applies to both testate and intestate distributions.