Chapter 12.4 Inheritance Rights of Slayers

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§12.4 INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF SLAYERS

RCW 11.84.020, the "slayer statute," prevents any person who participates, either as a principal or an accessory, in the willful and unlawful killing of a person, from receiving or acquiring any property or benefit as a result of the death of the decedent. In 2009, the slayer statute was extended to include the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

(1) Statutory detail

The statute adopts the definitions of the terms "financial exploitation" and "vulnerable adult" as provided in RCW 74.34.020. The statute also defines an "abuser" as a person who participates in the willful or unlawful financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, either as a principal or accessory before the fact. RCW 11.84.010. As a result of the changes to the statute, a person who financially exploits a vulnerable adult is treated as a slayer for purposes of Chapter 11.84 RCW.

A slayer or abuser does not have to be criminally convicted for the slayer statute to apply, Leavy, Taber, Schultz and Bergdahl v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 20 Wn.App. 503, 507, 581 P.2d 167 (1978). However, the slayer's or abuser's criminal conviction is admissible evidence in any civil action under the statute. RCW 11.84.130.

Anyone using the statute to prevent the slayer from inheriting any of the decedent's property must prove that the killing was unlawful and willful. The burden of proof in this civil action is by a preponderance of the evidence. Cook vs. Gisler, 20 Wn.App. 677, 683, 582 P.2d 550 (1978). In In re Estate of Kissinger, 166 Wn.2d 120, 129, 206 P.3d 665 (2009), the court held that a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity does not make an otherwise unlawful act lawful for purposes of the slayer statute. The court also held that "willful" under the statute means "intentionally and designedly[,]" and in this case, the slayer was found

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to have acted willfully and unlawfully when he killed his mother, so he was barred from recovery under the slayer statute.

(2) Distribution of decedent's property

When Chapter 11.84 RCW applies, the slayer or abuser is deemed to have predeceased the decedent as to property that would have passed from the decedent or the decedent's estate to the slayer or abuser by intestate succession, by statutory right as surviving spouse, under any agreement made under the provisions of a community property agreement, or as a beneficiary under the decedent's will. RCW 11.84.030; RCW 11.84.040.

In In...