Slayer Statute: You Won’t Profit From the Will if you Kill

California law says, “No one can take advantage of his or her own wrongdoing”. The California Probate Code punishes those who commit murder under the California Slayer Statute.

When the killing of another is considered a felony, the person who commits the murder cannot profit from the victim’s estate. However, if you kill somebody in self-defense or commit justifiable homicide, this would not be considered a felonious killing, and the person would be entitled to inherit under the victim’s estate plan. But if you murder somebody, and it is considered a criminal act, the Slayer Statute prevents you from receiving any inheritance under the victim’s estate plan that you otherwise would be entitled to.

Probate Code § 250 says: “A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to any of the following:
(1) Any property, interest, or benefit under a will of the decedent, or a trust created by or for the benefit of the decedent or in which the decedent has an interest, including any general or special power of appointment conferred by the will or trust on the killer and any nomination of the killer as executor, trustee, guardian, or conservator or custodian made by the will or trust.
(2) Any property of the decedent by intestate succession.”

The case of an Illinois lottery winner, Urooj Kahn brings the Slayer Statute to light. Khan was the holder of a winning lottery ticket worth $425,000.00. A few days before he was supposed to collect his lottery prize, he died. A relative came forward to ask for an inquiry into his death. A toxicology report revealed that Khan’s blood contained lethal amounts of cyanide. It is suspected that Khan had been poisoned and his death was investigated as a homicide. In the event a family member who was named as a beneficiary of Khan’s will is found guilty of his murder, that family member would not be entitled to any portion of Khan’s estate, including his lottery winnings (under the Illinois’s Slayer Statute which is like that of the Slayer Statute in California).

It is very important to have a last will or living trust. It is very important to name the people you want to inherit your estate when you die. But if a beneficiary of a last will or living trust should kill the person, and they are convicted the murder, they are out of luck! They won’t profit from the will if they kill!