§ 62-2-803 — Effect of homicide on intestate succession, wills, joint assets, life insurance, and beneficiary designations.

(a) An individual who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to any benefits under the decedent's will, trust of which the decedent is a grantor or under this article with respect to the decedent's estate, including, but not limited to, an intestate share, an elective share, an omitted spouse's share or child's share, a homestead allowance, and exempt property, and the estate of the decedent passes as if the killer had predeceased the decedent. Property appointed by the will of the decedent to or for the benefit of the killer passes as if the killer had predeceased the decedent. (b) Any joint tenant who feloniously and intentionally kills another joint tenant thereby effects a severance of the interest of the decedent so that the share of the decedent passes as the decedent's property and the killer has no rights by survivorship. This provision applies to joint tenancies in real and personal property, joint and multiple-party accounts in banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, and other institutions, and any other form of co-ownership with survivorship incidents. (c) A named beneficiary of a bond, life insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contractual arrangement who feloniously and intentionally kills the principal obligee or the individual upon whose life the policy is issued is not entitled to any benefit under the bond, policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contractual arrangement, and it becomes payable as though the killer had predeceased the decedent. (d) Any other acquisition of property or interest by the killer shall be treated in accordance with the principles of this section. A beneficiary whose interest is increased as a result of feloniously and intentionally killing shall be treated in accordance with the principles of this section. (e) The felonious and intentional killing of the decedent revokes the nomination of the killer in a will or other document nominating or appointing the killer to serve in any fiduciary capacity or representative capacity, including, but not limited to, as personal representative, trustee, agent or guardian. (f) A final judgment by conviction, or guilty plea establishing criminal accountability of felonious and intentional killing the decedent conclusively establishes that the convicted individual feloniously and intentionally killed the decedent for purposes of this section. In the absence of such final judgment the court, upon the petition of an interested person, must determine whether, upon the preponderance of the evidence standard, the individual would be found responsible for the felonious and intentional killing of the decedent. If the court determines that, under that standard, the individual would be responsible for the felonious and intentional killing of the decedent, the determination conclusively establishes that individual as the decedent's killer for purposes of this section. (g) This section does not affect the rights of any person who, before rights under this section have been adjudicated, purchases from the killer, for value and without notice, property which the killer would have acquired except for this section, but the killer is liable for the amount of the proceeds or the value of the property. Any insurance company, bank, or other obligor making payment according to the terms of its policy or obligation is not liable by reason of this section unless prior to payment it has received at its home office or principal address written notice of a claim under this section. (h) If an individual feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent, and if the killer dies within one hundred twenty hours of the decedent's death, then the decedent shall be deemed to have survived the killer for purposes of distributing the killer's estate, including, but not limited to, property passing by intestacy, the killer's will, any trust of which the killer is a grantor, joint tenancy with right of survivorship and benefits payable under a life insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity or other contractual arrangement.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1986 Act No. 539, SECTION 1; 1997 Act No. 152, SECTION 10; 2013 Act No. 100, SECTION 1, eff January 1, 2014. Effect of Amendment The 2013 amendment rewrote subsection (a), rewrote subsection (c), added subsection (e) and redesignated subsections accordingly, rewrote subsection (f), rewrote subsection (h), and made other nonsubstantive changes.