Under the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, if the insured and the primary beneficiary die in a common accident, the law presumes that the:

Why B is correct

The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act provides a rule of order of death when there is insufficient evidence of who died first. For life insurance, the insured is presumed to have survived the beneficiary, meaning the beneficiary is treated as having died first. As a result, the proceeds are payable to any contingent beneficiary, and if none exists, to the insured's estate. This prevents the proceeds from passing through the beneficiary's estate to unintended heirs, and it is a standard clause in life insurance policies to resolve common-disaster claims.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act presumes that the insured survived the beneficiary, not the reverse. Because the beneficiary is treated as having died first, the beneficiary's own heirs do not receive the proceeds.
• C) The Act does not divide the proceeds between estates. It establishes a fixed presumption about the order of death so that the proceeds can be distributed to a single intended recipient.
• D) The policy remains valid and the death benefit remains payable. The Act only resolves the order of death; it does not void the contract or extinguish the insurer's obligation.

Memory hook

Common disaster: insured presumed to outlive beneficiary, so the backup gets the payout.