simultaneous death clause
simultaneous-death clause. A testamentary provision mandating that if the testator and beneficiary die in a common disaster, or the order of their deaths is otherwise unascertainable, the testator is presumed to have survived the beneficiary. • If the beneficiary is the testator’s spouse, an express exception is often made so that the spouse with the smaller estate is presumed to have survived. See simultaneous death under DEATH. Cf. SURVIVAL CLAUSE.