criminal-law wills inheritance maryland
Inheritance after a homicide
<p>I was watching a “true crime” type of TV show, which raised an interesting question (to me) regarding wills and inheritance.  Here’s the scenario:</p>
<p>An elderly wealthy man had a neighbor who was his caregiver.  The man decided to will all his assets to the caregiver, presumably as a reward for her service.  The caregiver was aware of this.
After some time, the man decided to change his will because of a disagreement with the caregiver.  The caregiver found out about this, and before the man could actually change the will, she murdered him.  The caregiver was found guilty and given a life sentence.</p>
<p>My question is, since the will was never changed, does the caregiver still inherit the man’s assets? Would it matter if she was guilty of a lesser crime such as manslaughter?  Or if her sentence was less than life?</p>
<p>The show didn't mention the jurisdiction (or I forgot it), but for the sake of argument, assume the state of Maryland.  If significantly different in other states, I'd be interested in that as well.</p>

<p>The seminal case on this was <a href="http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/archives/riggs_palmer.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Riggs v. Palmer</em></a>, 115 N.Y. 506 (1889). A grandson stood to inherit a sizeable estate from his grandfather and, concerned that the will might change, killed his grandfather.</p>
<p>In the <a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag">united-states</a> most jurisdictions have passed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer_rule" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;slayer statutes&quot;</a> to prevent the killer from taking under the will.</p>
<p>In Maryland, one who &quot;feloniously and intentionally kills, conspires to kill, or procures the killing of the decedent&quot; is barred from inheriting or otherwise benefiting under the will. <em>See</em> <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2015/article-get/title-11/subtitle-1/section-11-112" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Md. Est. &amp; Trusts Code § 11-112</a>. Manslaughter is a felony in Maryland. <em>See</em> <a href="https://codes.findlaw.com/md/criminal-law/md-code-crim-law-sect-2-207.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Md. Code Crim. Law § 2-207</a>. So if a particular instance of manslaughter involves <a href="https://statelaws.findlaw.com/maryland-law/maryland-voluntary-manslaughter-law.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">intent</a> (<em>e.g.</em> the grandson intentionally kills the grandfather following some adequate provocation), the slayer statute should bar taking under the will. But if it doesn't, the killer wouldn't be disqualified.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer_rule#Maryland" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> adds:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Maryland slayer rule is harsher than most other states. In addition to prohibiting murderers from inheriting from their victims, Maryland's slayer rule prohibits anyone else from inheriting from murder victims through their murderers; Maryland's slayer rule is thus similar in structure to corruption of blood.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>For example, a mother leaves her son $50,000, and leaves her son's child (her grandchild) $100,000. She leaves her residuary estate (<em>i.e.</em>, whatever else is left of the estate) to her daughter. If the son kills his mother, then under Maryland law, the son's child will inherit the $100,000; however the son's $50,000 (which is also the indirect inheritance of the grandchild through his father), is not available under Maryland law to either the son, or his child. The $50,000 becomes part of the mother's residuary estate and goes to the daughter.</p>
</blockquote>
