# What happens to money left to the murderer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499 "2008-01-06T15:08:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/1 "2008-01-06T15:08:59Z")
If I make a will and leave vast fortunes to my unscrupulous nephew, and he offs me and is convicted of that, what happens to the money i’ve left to him? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/2 "2008-01-06T15:32:49Z")
Depends on the state. Wisconsin specifically disinherits people who are convicted of killing the testator. ETA: Oops, you’re in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/3 "2008-01-06T15:41:47Z")
[Here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/lawinaction/index_20031024.shtml) is (at least part of) a BBC story that indicates that under British law a murder may not inherit. Apparently the children of the murderer are also disinherited, although that may have changed in the years since the story was published. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/4 "2008-01-06T15:56:08Z")
Sorry to triple-post… If anyone’s interested, Wisconsin’s disinheritance statute is 854.14. Searchable database [here](http://nxt.legis.state.wi.us/nxt/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=WI:Default&d=stats&jd=top). ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/5 "2008-01-06T16:05:46Z")
So, to answer the OP, the money would go to the next qualified beneficiary in line or, if none, to the state (I think). ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/6 "2008-01-06T16:11:19Z")
Recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 2005 Report on _The Forfeiture Rule and the Law of Succession_ were as follows: > [@](#): > > - Where there is no will, if a killer forfeits an inheritance, their share will pass to the next in line. For example, if a son kills his parents, his share will pass to the grandchildren. > > - If a will states that money is left to ‘A’, "but if they should predecease me, to ‘B’ ", then if A forfeits the inheritance, it should pass to B. > > - Where a potential heir refuses an inheritance (either under a will or on intestacy), it should pass to the person who would have received the money had the first heir died. As of December 2006 these proposals had been accepted by government but not thus far implemented by it. [Link](http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=251088&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=True). ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/7 "2008-01-06T17:45:23Z")
In the U.S., it’s referred to as the “slayer’s rule,” and my memory is that it exists in all or almost all US jurisdictions. Under the slayer’s rule, the slayer is treated as pre-deceasing the testator (the guy with the will who the slayer killed). If you look through the examples **Chez Guevara** posted, that’s all they say: if you kill someone, you’re treated as though you died before him, so whatever you would have taken under the will (or by intestacy) goes elsewhere. So if the slayer’s rule doesn’t currently exist in the UK, as **Chez Guevara** suggests, it appears that what’s being proposed mirrors US common law. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/8 "2008-01-06T21:28:33Z")
Honest question: would the will be respected even if the wording were such that even if _A_ murders me, I still want him to inherit? What about if _A_ assists me in a suicide? Okay, how about if _A_ makes the decision to pull the plug at the hospital? I guess the law is the law, but would a probate judge tend to respect the will if the deceased allowed for the possibility? If not, then are there legal workarounds? Can the deceased leave a trust, but then the trust be to the benefit of the murderer? The trust isn’t the murderer, but then it would be to his sole benefit anyway. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/9 "2008-01-06T21:32:53Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] [Here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/lawinaction/index_20031024.shtml) is (at least part of) a BBC story that indicates that under British law a murder may not inherit. Apparently the children of the murderer are also disinherited, although that may have changed in the years since the story was published. [/QUOTE] What if the heir(s) of the murder is also an heir(s) of the deceased? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/10 "2008-01-06T23:10:52Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] What if the heir(s) of the murder[er] is also an heir(s) of the deceased? [/QUOTE] Basically, they inherit under the deceased (murder victim)‘s will (not the murderers’ – he never actually inherited the property). This is an old mystery plot. Grandpa, a widower, has lots of money. Suddenly he gets engaged, to a woman young enough to produce new heirs. So Grandpa’s son or daughter murders him, knowing that even if they are caught, their children (the grandchildren) are still the only heirs to Grandpa’s money. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/11 "2008-01-07T00:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Honest question: would the will be respected even if the wording were such that even if _A_ murders me, I still want him to inherit? What about if _A_ assists me in a suicide? Okay, how about if _A_ makes the decision to pull the plug at the hospital? [/QUOTE] [There’s an interesting op-ed](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E5DA1E3AF930A25755C0A962958260)from more than ten years ago (NYT, requires free registration) that ponders these questions. I haven’t researched this and don’t really have time to right now, but the article does point out some of the inherent conflict in the policies at issue. As to your trusts question, I don’t know the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-money-left-to-the-murderer/432499/12 "2008-04-08T15:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] If I make a will and leave vast fortunes to my unscrupulous nephew, and he offs me and is convicted of that, what happens to the money i’ve left to him? [/QUOTE] It would seem that it _is_ possible for a convicted killer to benefit from a will made by his victim. [Here](http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23475509-details/Lawyer+who+killed+his+wife+is+released+after+just+two+years+-+and+inherits+%C2%A3950,000+from+her+estate/article.do) is a story concerning a man who killed his wife and was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Although UK law prohibits someone convicted of manslaughter from inheriting the estate of his victim, the courts have discretion to override this restriction if the killer was afflicted by a mental disorder at the time of the incident. . . . (This thread is 3 months old but its resurrection satisfies the criteria stated in The Rules, in that we are in GQ and the comment is substantive.)