Slayer Statute-Intent
In the civil proceeding the defendant need not have acted with criminal intent but simply civil intent. Civil intent means the defendant need not have known his actions were wrongful. For example, the defendant may have been found not guilty by reason of insanity in the criminal case. He would qualify as a slayer.
Neither the slayer nor any person claiming through the slayer may benefit from the estate of the decedent. Likewise, life insurance on the life of the decedent does not pass to the slayer. However, life insurance on the life of the slayer may pass to the estate of the decedent.
Slayer Statute-Passing of Property
The slayer is treated as having died before the decedent. This applies to property passing by intestacy, due to a spousal relationship, by will, by survivorship, by reversion or by other means. The statute is to be broadly interpreted to prevent the slayer from receiving whatever the decedent had before death.
Property that otherwise would pass to the slayer by will is governed by the anti-lapse provisions of 64.2-418. That means that descendants of the slayer may take the slayer’s share.
Persons who take part in the decedent’s estate simply by their relationship to the slayer may still receive that part of the decedent’s estate they may otherwise have been entitled to.
The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act does not apply in the slayer situation. However the wrongful death act may apply. It may be possible to bring both the wrongful death case and the slayer case in one lawsuit. That will depend on whether the plaintiffs in the two cases are identical.
The thing to keep in mind is the goal of the slayer statute is to prevent the slayer from benefiting from his actions.
Call, or contact us for a free consult. Also for more info on the slayer statute see the Wikipedia pages. Also see the post on this site dealing with wrongful death issues.
