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A life insurance policy names a primary beneficiary 'if living, otherwise to the contingent beneficiary,' and contains a Uniform Simultaneous Death Act / Uniform Probate Code §2-702-style common-disaster provision. The insured and primary beneficiary die in a car crash and the primary beneficiary survives by 72 hours. Under the typical 120-hour survival rule, proceeds are paid to:

AThe primary beneficiary's own estate, because the primary did in fact actually survive the insured for the full documented 72-hour period after the crash and so vested in the policy proceeds
BThe insured's own probate estate, because both the insured and the primary beneficiary died together in a single common disaster with no clear order of death
CSplit evenly on a strict 50/50 basis between the primary beneficiary's estate and the named contingent beneficiary identified in the policy
The contingent beneficiary, because the primary failed to survive the insured by 120 hours and is deemed to have predeceased the insured for distribution purposes

Why this is the answer

Uniform Probate Code §2-702 and the parallel Uniform Simultaneous Death Act establish a 120-hour (5-day) survival requirement for beneficiaries of governing instruments, including life insurance policies. If the primary beneficiary cannot be shown by clear and convincing evidence to have survived the insured by at least 120 hours, the primary is deemed to have predeceased the insured for distribution purposes, and proceeds pass to the contingent beneficiary. Here, the 72-hour survival fails the 120-hour test, so the contingent beneficiary takes. Many life policies also carry their own common-disaster clause with an explicit survival period.

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