Texas Probate Code §47 provides that if you don’t survive the decedent by 120 hours, it will be deemed that you predeceased him. The same applies for jointly owned property with right of survivorship. When people own property as joint tenants with right of survivorship, the survivor gets all of the property. If the joint owners die within 120 hours of each other, the property is divided between the two estates. One-half going to each owners’ estate because neither survived the other.
A recent question came up in a discussion with some probate lawyers. One had a case where two people were joint owners of some property with right of survivorship. One was declared brain dead but was on life support. The second one died within 120 hours of the first one being declared brain dead. A little over 120 hours after the second one died, the first one was taken off life support and expired.
The question was whether the second one who died within 120 hours of the first one being declared brain dead meant that the jointly owned property would be split between the two estates? Or, does the property go to the first one because he wasn’t taken off of life support, even though he was brain dead, until more than 120 hours after the death of the second one? Does it make any difference if the family of the first one kept him on life support for the purpose of having the property go to his estate and took him off life support only after the 120 hours had passed? There was no consensus answer to these questions. The courts will have to tell us what the answer is.
[...] recently wrote on the issue of when are you dead for probate purposes here. The issue is important because Texas has a statute that says that if a person gives you [...]