Tragic Story Shows Need For Survivorship Requirements

Thomas Olson, 22, and his mother Mary Moore, 35, had an incredibly close relationship. Sadly, both individuals passed away the same day as a result of a strange series of events. Moore had been in a bar the day she died and according to police, she was lying in the street at 1:00 a.m. when a drunk driver ran her over. After he was unable to find his mother, Olsen called the police station and was told that the police needed to come to the house to talk to him in person. Instead, Olsen and his friend raced to the hospital in an SUV. The driver of the SUV was driving at high speeds and lost control of the vehicle after taking a turn. Olsen was thrown from the vehicle and died on the way to the hospital. The driver was arrested for drunk driving.

While two family members passing so close together is incredibly tragic, it is also a reminder of the importance of survivorship requirements in wills. Hopefully Olsen and Moore had wills that contained survivorship requirements—assuming they were beneficiaries of each other’s estates.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.