Taxation & Estate Planning

The Illinois Slayer Statute and Insanity

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

Illinois's so-called "slayer" statute (section 2-6 of the Illinois Probate Act) states that "[a] person who intentionally and unjustifiably causes the death of another shall not receive any property, benefit, or other interest by reason of the death." This section is applicable to any interest the killer might have taken, so it applies to probate and non-probate property alike. (For instance, the killer couldn't take under the decedent's Will or as a beneficiary of the decedent's life insurance policy.)

The Fourth District Court of Appeals recently considered the slayer statute's application in a case (Dougherty v. Cole, Jr. -- here as a PDF) involving insanity. The facts are fairly simple: Jack had a manic episode and beat and stabbed his mother, Jane, to death. Jack was found not guilty of Jane's murder by reason of insanity.

May Jack inherit from Jane? He may not, according to the above decision. The slayer statute was amended in 1983 to focus on the two main points: "intentionally" and "unjustifiably." The Court does a nice job of reviewing the rationale behind the 1983 amendment, which was really an expansion of the statute. Its finding: criminal intent does not matter. Jack intended to kill Jane, knew she was his mother, and knew that he was killing her. It doesn't really matter that Jack did so because he was being told (by the voices in his head) that she was the enemy.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).