Individuals have wills, couples cannot. If a couple has combined assets that fall below the threshold for paying federal estate taxes, each can have a reciprocal will that essentially mirrors the other. Whoever dies first leaves their estate to the other, after specific bequests have been fulfilled. When the second spouse dies, typically the remaining assets go to the children of that couple.

A common concern for parents when writing wills is what would happen if they go out for dinner and a movie on a Saturday night and never make it home, leaving their kids orphans. Hopefully proper planning has been done to name guardians, and funds are available to take care of their needs. In terms of crafting the document, a common disaster clause is included that says everything goes to the spouse if she survives some specified number of days. You will want to choose some number less than the six months permitted to maintain the tax-free transfer of the property from one spouse to another. The clause would go on to say that if the spouse does not survive, the property transfers to the children.

The prospect of simultaneous death is common enough that most states have adopted the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act. When spouses' wills say nothing about who survived whom, or if no wills have been executed, the Act says that each spouse is considered the survivor of the other. This interpretation blocks assets being transferred from one dead person to another. An extension of the Act covers life insurance policies. If both the insured and the beneficiary die at the same time, the insured person is considered to have survived so that the proceeds from the policy go to the alternate beneficiary.