New Mexico Statutes 45-2-702. Requirement of survival by one hundred twenty hours
A. For the purposes of the Uniform Probate Code, except as provided in Subsection D of this section, an individual who is not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived an event, including the death of another individual, by one hundred twenty hours is deemed to have predeceased the event.
Terms Used In New Mexico Statutes 45-2-702
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- 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.
- Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
- 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.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Probate: Proving a will
- Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
B. Except as provided in Subsection D of this section, 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 one hundred twenty hours is deemed to have predeceased the event.
C. Except as provided in Subsection D of this section:
(1) if it is not established by clear and convincing evidence that one of two co- owners with right of survivorship survived the other co-owner by one hundred twenty hours, one-half of the property passes as if one had survived by one hundred twenty hours and one-half as if the other had survived by one hundred twenty hours; and
(2) if there are more than two co-owners and it is not established by clear and convincing evidence that at least one of them survived the others by one hundred twenty hours, the property passes in the proportion that one bears to the whole number of co-owners.
For the purposes of this subsection, “co-owners with right of survivorship” includes joint tenants 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.
D. Survival by one hundred twenty hours is not required if:
(1) 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;
(2) the governing instrument expressly indicates that an individual is not required to survive an event, including the death of another individual, by any specified period or expressly requires the individual to survive the event by a specified period, but survival of the event or specified period must be established by clear and convincing evidence;
(3) the imposition of a one-hundred-twenty-hour requirement of survival would cause a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment to fail to qualify for validity pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (1) of Subsection A, Paragraph (1) of Subsection B or Paragraph (1) of Subsection C of Section 45-2-901 N.M. Stat. Ann. or to become invalid pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (2) of Subsection A, Paragraph (2) of Subsection B or Paragraph (2) of Subsection C of Section 45-2-901 N.M. Stat. Ann., but survival must be established by clear and convincing evidence; or
(4) the application of a one-hundred-twenty-hour requirement of survival to multiple governing instruments would result in an unintended failure or duplication of a disposition, but survival must be established by clear and convincing evidence.
E. 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 beneficiary designated in a governing instrument who, under this section, is not entitled to the payment or item of property or for having taken any other action in good faith reliance on the beneficiary’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 section. 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 section.
Written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement pursuant to the provisions of this subsection must be mailed to the payor’s or other third party’s main office or home by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or served upon the payor or other third party in the same manner as a summons in a civil action. Upon receipt of written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this section, 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 probate proceedings relating to the decedent‘s estate, or if no proceedings have been commenced, to or with the court having jurisdiction of probate 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 section, 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.
F. 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 section to return the payment, item of property or benefit nor is liable under this section 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 section 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 section.
G. If this section or any part of this section is pre-empted by federal law with respect to a payment, an item of property or any other benefit covered by this section, 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 section 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 section or part of this section not pre-empted.