TITLE LVI
PROBATE COURTS AND DECEDENTS' ESTATES
Chapter 563
UNIFORM SIMULTANEOUS DEATH ACT
Section 563:1
563:1 Definitions. –
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
I. "Co-owners with right of survivorship" includes joint tenants, tenants by the entireties, and other co-owners of property or accounts held under circumstances that entitles one or more to the whole of the property or account on the death of the other or others.
II. "Court" means the probate court to which the jurisdiction of the subject matter belongs.
III. "Governing instrument" means a deed, will, trust, insurance or annuity policy, account with POD designation, pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan; instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney; or a dispositive, appointive, or nominative instrument of any similar type.
IV. "Payor" means a trustee, insurer, business entity, employer, government, governmental agency, subdivision, or instrumentality, or any other person authorized or obligated by law or a governing instrument to make payments.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:2
563:2 Requirement of Survival by 120 Hours. –
Except as provided in RSA 563:6, if the title to property, the devolution of property, the right to elect an interest in property, or the right to exempt property, homestead, or family allowance depends upon an individual's survivorship of the death of another individual, an individual who is not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived the other individual by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the other individual. This section shall not apply if its application would result in a taking of an intestate estate by the state.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:3
563:3 Requirement of Survival by 120 Hours Under Governing Instruments. –
Except as provided in RSA 563:6, for purposes of a provision of a governing instrument that relates to an individual surviving an event, including the death of another individual, an individual who is not established, by clear and convincing evidence, to have survived the event by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the event.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:4
563:4 Co-Owners with Right of Survivorship; Requirement of Survival by 120 Hours. –
Except as provided in RSA 563:6, if:
I. It is not established by clear and convincing evidence that one of 2 co-owners with right of survivorship survived the other co-owner by 120 hours, 1/2 of the property passes as if one had survived by 120 hours and 1/2 as if the other had survived by 120 hours; and
II. There are more than 2 co-owners and it is not established by clear and convincing evidence that at least one of them survived the others by 120 hours, the property passes in the proportion that one bears to the whole number of co-owners.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:5
563:5 Evidence of Death or Status. –
In addition to otherwise applicable rules of evidence, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply:
I. Death occurs when an individual is determined to be dead under RSA 141-D:2.
II. A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by a governmental official or agency of the place where the death purportedly occurred is prima facie evidence of the fact, place, date, and time of death and of the identity of the decedent.
III. A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental official or agency, domestic or foreign, that an individual is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima facie evidence of the status and of the dates, times, identities, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.
IV. In the absence of prima facie evidence of death under paragraph II or III, the fact of death may be established by clear and convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence.
V. An individual whose death is not established under the preceding paragraphs who is absent for a continuous period of 4 years, during which time that individual has not been heard from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed to be dead. The individual's death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier.
VI. In the absence of evidence disputing the time of death stated on a document described in paragraph II or III, a document described in paragraph II or III that states a time of death 120 hours or more after the time of death of another individual, however the time of death of the other individual is determined, establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the individual survived the other individual by 120 hours.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999. 2005, 280:5, eff. Jan. 1, 2006.
Section 563:6
563:6 Exceptions. –
Survival by 120 hours is not required if:
I. The governing instrument contains language dealing explicitly with simultaneous deaths or deaths in a common disaster and that language is operable under the facts of the case;
II. The governing instrument expressly indicates that an individual is not required to survive an event, including the death of another individual, by any specific period or expressly requires the individual to survive the event for a specified period; but survival of the event or the specified period shall be established by clear and convincing evidence;
III. The imposition of a 120-hour requirement of survival would cause a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment to be invalid under the Rule Against Perpetuities; but survival shall be established by clear and convincing evidence; or
IV. The application of a 120-hour requirement of survival to multiple governing instruments would result in an unintended failure or duplication of a disposition; but survival shall be established by clear and convincing evidence.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:7
563:7 Protection of Payors, Bona Fide Purchasers, and Other Third Parties; Personal Liability of Recipient. –
I. A payor or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or any other benefit to a person designated in a governing instrument who, under this chapter, is not entitled to the payment or item of property, or for having taken any other action in good faith reliance on the person's apparent entitlement under the terms of the governing instrument, before the payor or other third party received written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this chapter. A payor or other third party is liable for a payment made or other action taken after the payor or other third party received written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this chapter.
II. Written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under paragraph I shall be mailed to the payor's or other third party's main office or home by first class mail, or served upon the payor or other third party in the same manner as notice in an action. Upon receipt of written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this chapter, a payor or other third party may pay any amount owed or transfer or deposit any item of property held by it to or with the court having jurisdiction of the proceedings relating to the decedent's estate, or if no proceedings have been commenced, to or with the court having jurisdiction of proceedings relating to decedents' estates located in the county of the decedent's residence. The court shall hold the funds or item of property and, upon its determination under this chapter, shall order disbursement in accordance with the determination. Payments, transfers, or deposits made to or with the court discharge the payor or other third party from all claims for the value of amounts paid to or items of property transferred to or deposited with the court.
III. A person who purchases property for value and without notice, or who receives a payment or other item of property in partial or full satisfaction of a legally enforceable obligation, is neither obligated under this chapter to return the payment, item of property, or benefit nor liable under this chapter for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit. But a person who, not for value, receives a payment, item of property, or any other benefit to which the person is not entitled under this chapter is obligated to return the payment, item of property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who is entitled to it under this chapter.
IV. If this chapter or any part of this chapter is preempted by federal law with respect to a payment, an item of property, or any other benefit covered by this chapter, a person who, not for value, receives the payment, item of property, or any other benefit to which the person is not entitled under this chapter is obligated to return the payment, item of property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who would have been entitled to it were this chapter or part of this chapter not preempted.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:8
563:8 Uniformity of Application and Construction. –
This chapter shall be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this chapter among states enacting it.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:9
563:9 Short Title. –
This chapter may be cited as the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:10
563:10 Severability. –
If any provision of this chapter or its application to any persons or circumstance is held invalid, the validity does not affect other provisions or applications of the chapter which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are severable.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
Section 563:11
563:11 Applicability. –
I. An act done before the effective date of this chapter in any proceeding, and any right accrued before the effective date of this chapter shall not be impaired by this chapter. If a right is acquired, extinguished, or barred upon the expiration of a prescribed period of time that has commenced to run by the provisions of any statute before the effective date of this chapter, the provisions remain in force with respect to that right; and
II. Any rule of construction or presumption provided in this chapter shall apply to instruments executed and multiple-party accounts opened before the effective date of this chapter, unless there is a clear indication of a contrary intent.
Source. 1998, 1:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.