(a) An individual who fails to survive the decedent by one hundred twenty (120) hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of the homestead allowance, year‘s support allowance, exempt property, elective share and intestate succession, and the decedent’s heirs are determined accordingly.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 31-3-108

  • Common disaster: A sudden and extraordinary misfortune that brings about the simultaneous or near-simultaneous deaths of two or more associated persons, such as husband and wife.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Devisee: means any person designated in a will to receive a devise. See Tennessee Code 31-1-101
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Heirs: means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent. See Tennessee Code 31-1-101
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Property: includes both real and personal property or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership. See Tennessee Code 31-1-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) A devisee who fails to survive the testator by one hundred twenty (120) hours is deemed to have predeceased the testator, unless the will of the decedent contains language dealing explicitly with simultaneous deaths or deaths in a common disaster or requiring that the devisee survive by a stated period of time in order to take under the will.
(c) If it is not established by clear and convincing evidence that an individual who would otherwise be an heir or devisee survived the decedent by one hundred twenty (120) hours, it is deemed that such individual failed to survive for the required period. This section is not to be applied if its application would result in property of any nature escheating to the state.
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