[WSBAPT] Slayer statute application to inheritance from third party?

[Eric Nelsen]

I agree with Karen, which usually is a good thing, but an unfortunate result in this case. The statute is pretty direct in stating that the “decedent” means the person who was slain or financially abused by the slayer/abuser. If the decedent wasn’t directly the wronged party, the statutes do not appear to apply.

RCW 11.84.010<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.84.010>
Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Abuser" means any person who participates, either as a principal or an accessory before the fact, in the willful and unlawful financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
(2) "Decedent" means:
(a) Any person whose life is taken by a slayer; or
(b) Any deceased person who, at any time during life in which he or she was a vulnerable adult, was the victim of financial exploitation by an abuser.
(3) "Financial exploitation" has the same meaning as provided in RCW 74.34.020<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=74.34.020>, as enacted or hereafter amended.
(4) "Property" includes any real and personal property and any right or interest therein.
(5) "Slayer" means any person who participates, either as a principal or an accessory before the fact, in the willful and unlawful killing of any other person as determined under RCW 11.84.140<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.84.140>.
(6) "Vulnerable adult" has the same meaning as provided in RCW 74.34.020<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=74.34.020>.

That said, I think there might be a long-shot chance of getting a court to agree that RCW 11.84.030 can be read to include any later inheritance from other relatives that, if the slain parent were still alive, would have been inherited by them and not by the slayer.

RCW 11.84.030<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.84.030>
Slayer or abuser deemed to predecease decedent.
The slayer or abuser shall be deemed to have predeceased the decedent as to property which would have passed from the decedent or his or her estate to the slayer or abuser under the statutes of descent and distribution or have been acquired by statutory right as surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner or under any agreement made with the decedent under the provisions of RCW 26.16.120<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=26.16.120> as it now exists or is hereafter amended.



Sincerely,

Eric

Eric C. Nelsen
Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
1417 31st Ave South
Seattle WA 98144-3909
206-625-0092
eric at sayrelawoffices.com<mailto:eric at sayrelawoffices.com>

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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Karen E. Boxx
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2022 1:33 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Slayer statute application to inheritance from third party?

The nephew is inheriting as intestate heir to your decedent so the slayer statute won’t apply.
Sent from my iPad


On Apr 20, 2022, at 1:29 PM, Sara Longley <sara at ivylawgroup.com<mailto:sara at ivylawgroup.com>> wrote:

Hello listmates,

I have searched the case law and I am scratching my head and hoping someone can help me out.  I have a probate where the decedent’s intestate estate would pass in equal shares to her two siblings.  However, one of the siblings was murdered several years earlier by her son, the decedent’s nephew.  Under the intestacy statute the nephew would take his mother’s share, but my reading of the Slayer Statute (RCW 11.84) is that the nephew is barred from inheriting because of the prohibition on his profiting from his crime.

The statute focuses on a slayer or abuser inheriting directly from the decedent they killed or abused, and all the case law I have found is based on such facts.  Is a slayer also barred from inheriting from a third party by reason of his crime?  That is my interpretation of RCW 11.84.030, but I would appreciate any advice or input the group can offer.

Thanks in advance,
Sara Longley


Sara D. Longley
Senior Attorney
Ivy Law Group, PLLC
1734 NW Market Street
Seattle, WA 98107
Phone: (206) 706-2909
sara at ivylawgroup.com<mailto:sara at ivylawgroup.com>
Pronouns: she, her, hers

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