---
type: "Bill"
title: "Estates - Maryland Uniform Simultaneous Death Act"
description: "Estates - Maryland Uniform Simultaneous Death Act"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 596"
citation: "Maryland HB 596 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Behler", "Chisholm", "Griffith", "Nkongolo", "Odom"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2026-01-28"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/955e12e2-4bb1-492e-b79b-c01963faf15b"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0596?ys=2026RS"
source_hash: "4f20cb20dbae2901f7350848c05ce41e5fed7179cf056f1d9975dc8b1e6d748a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-md"]
---

# Maryland HB 596 (2026) — Estates - Maryland Uniform Simultaneous Death Act

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Chapter - Estates - Maryland Uniform Simultaneous Death Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Chapters_noln/CH_509_hb0596t.pdf)
2. **First - Estates - Maryland Uniform Simultaneous Death Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0596f.pdf)
3. **Third - Estates - Maryland Uniform Simultaneous Death Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/bills/hb/hb0596t.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading — **129–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Behler — primary (person)
- Chisholm — primary (person)
- Griffith — primary (person)
- Nkongolo — primary (person)
- Odom — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2026-01-28** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-02** Hearing 2/11 at 2:00 p.m.
- **2026-03-20** Favorable Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-20** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-20** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-03-23** Referred Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-09** Favorable Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-09** Favorable Adopted Second Reading Passed `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-13** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2026-04-13** Returned Passed
- **2026-05-12** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 509 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/955e12e2-4bb1-492e-b79b-c01963faf15b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).