wills and death of couples together.

McKneff

A couple living together, mortgage and house is in only 1 spouses name.
Wills say everything to the other if either one of them dies.

What happens if they are both killed together at the same time, say in a car crash. I had heard that legally it is presumed that the female is deemed to have died last as she is presumed to be youngest. Is this correct. If it is then what happens if the woman is older. Maybe I have got it all wrong. Does anyone know for sure.

silvercar

I thought it is presumed that the oldest goes first. Its only an issue if they had wills leaving everything to each other or joint ownership where the survivor inherits on the death of the first. If they are not married or had their own wills, their inheritance would be as they stipulated in their wills.

p00hsticks

McKneff wrote: »

A couple living together, mortgage and house is in only 1 spouses name.
Wills say everything to the other if either one of them dies.

What happens if they are both killed together at the same time, say in a car crash. I had heard that legally it is presumed that the female is deemed to have died last as she is presumed to be youngest. Is this correct. If it is then what happens if the woman is older. Maybe I have got it all wrong. Does anyone know for sure.

I believe that this is why many properly drawn up wills include some phrasing so that bequests are only carried out if the inheritee outlives the inheritor by a certain period (I've heard twenty eight days mentioned). This simplifies things if a couple are in a crash together and one only outlives the other for a few days.

If it isn't clear who died first, then I believe as silvercar says it is assumed that it is the eldest.

diable

Why worry if both of you die?

riverboat2001

Our recently drawn up wills say that each has to outlive the other by a set period (may be a month)

The thing about dying together was brought up, but that isn't included in the will.

Not to be morbid, but the more worrying thing to us was one of us going into a coma, leaving the other one struggling financially, but again, that was a different issue. Think it was called "expresion of wish" form, but not 100% sure.

G_M

Out of interest, are you asking because you are writing your will(s)? In which case surely a good will-writer/solicitor would be the person to ask.
Or because a couple you know have recently died together and you are either a potential beneficiary or the executer of one or both wills? In which case I'd advise contacting a solicitor (again) or the local probate service.

Or try CAB here.
Or Gov.doc here.

McKneff

GM - no I was asking on behalf of someone else who are about to make wills with a solicitor , I have advised them to talk to their solicitor about it when they go to do them next week.

Thanks for all your input guys.

G_M

McKneff wrote: »

GM - no I was asking on behalf of someone else who are about to make wills with a solicitor , I have advised them to talk to their solicitor about it when they go to do them next week.

Thanks for all your input guys.

Good advice! Better than relying on us amateurs here!

Nixer

We did ours a couple of weeks back and it's the elder person that's deemed to have died first. Any decent solicitor should ask what the couple want to happen if they die together. Someone upthread asks why you would worry - well, for the same reason that you make a will in the first place, so that you have control over who your estate goes to. Neither of us wants the Crown getting their mitts on it so we've left it to charity if we die together.

timmyt

McKneff wrote: »

A couple living together, mortgage and house is in only 1 spouses name.
Wills say everything to the other if either one of them dies.

What happens if they are both killed together at the same time, say in a car crash. I had heard that legally it is presumed that the female is deemed to have died last as she is presumed to be youngest. total nonsense. the oldest is simply presumed to die first Is this correct. If it is then what happens if the woman is older. Maybe I have got it all wrong. Does anyone know for sure.

the advice is for the wills to be reviewed by a solicitor - and not a will writer as they are badly trained