# Can children or any beneficiary claim life insurance in a domestic violence death?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-children-or-any-beneficiary-claim-life-insurance-in-a-domestic-violence-death/837358>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-children-or-any-beneficiary-claim-life-insurance-in-a-domestic-violence-death/837358 "2019-07-20T18:23:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-children-or-any-beneficiary-claim-life-insurance-in-a-domestic-violence-death/837358/1 "2019-07-20T18:23:59Z")

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If someone murders their spouse, would life insurance (in general) pay the claim to anyone other than the one guilty? Not sure I’m wording that right. And no, I’m not planning anything. 😋

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-children-or-any-beneficiary-claim-life-insurance-in-a-domestic-violence-death/837358/2 "2019-07-20T18:50:44Z")

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Look up the Slayer Rule:

> [@](#):
>
> The slayer rule, in the common law of inheritance, stops a person inheriting property from a person he murders (e.g., a murderer does not inherit from parents or a spouse he killed). In figuring inheritance of the decedent’s estate, the slayer is treated as though he or she had died before the person he murdered, hence his share of the estate would pass to his issue.
> 
> While a criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the slayer rule applies to civil law, not criminal law, so the prosecutor must only prove the murder by a preponderance of the evidence, as in a wrongful death claim. Hence, even a slayer who is acquitted of the crime of murder can lose the inheritance by the civil court running the estate.

> **[Slayer rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer_rule)**
>
> Sections
> Contest
> Property disposition
> Common types