Washington Law Review


H. C. Force


The question whether a murderer can inherit from his victim, except in the case of life insurance, is usually answered in the affirmative. The rule is well settled that if the beneficiary under a life insurance policy murders the insured, neither he nor his heirs or representatives can collect the policy. But in cases where a devisee or heir has murdered his testator or ancester, the courts are divided, the majority holding that however undesirable it may be for a murderer to profit by his crime, nevertheless the statutes of wills or of descent are too clear, that the courts are powerless to read any exception into the statute, and that until the legislature acts there is no way of preventing the murderer from profiting by his crime.

First Page