Estate of Nathalie Meltzer, Deceased, Louis A. Zuckerman and David M. Osnos, Co-Executors v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

WINTER, Circuit Judge:

Nathalie and Louis Meltzer, husband and wife, were both killed in the wreck of a commercial airliner at a time when Nathalie owned insurance policies on the life of her husband and was the primary-beneficiary thereunder. The policies had been issued some years previously and further premiums remained to be paid. There was no proof of the order of death. The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, which is in force in the District of Columbia, where the Meltzers resided, provides that where the order of death cannot be determined the insured will be presumed to have survived the…