Section 700.2803 - Forfeiture and revocation of benefits. - Michigan Statutes

ESTATES AND PROTECTED INDIVIDUALS CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 386 of 1998

700.2803 Forfeiture and revocation of benefits.

Sec. 2803.

(1) An individual who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits all benefits under this article with respect to the decedent's estate, including an intestate share, an elective share, an omitted spouse's or child's share, a homestead allowance, a family allowance, and exempt property. If the decedent died intestate, the decedent's intestate estate passes as if the killer disclaimed his or her intestate share.

(2) The felonious and intentional killing of the decedent does all of the following:

(a) Revokes all of the following that are revocable:

(i) Disposition or appointment of property made by the decedent to the killer in a governing instrument.

(ii) Provision in a governing instrument conferring a general or nongeneral power of appointment on the killer.

(iii) Nomination of the killer in a governing instrument, nominating or appointing the killer to serve in a fiduciary or representative capacity, including a personal representative, executor, trustee, or agent.

(b) Severs the interests of the decedent and killer in property held by them at the time of the killing as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, transforming the interests of the decedent and killer into tenancies in common.

(3) A severance under subsection (2)(b) does not affect a third party interest in property acquired for value and in good faith reliance on an apparent title by survivorship in the killer unless a writing declaring the severance has been noted, registered, filed, or recorded in records appropriate to the kind and location of the property that are relied upon, in the ordinary course of transactions involving that type of property, as evidence of ownership.

(4) A provision of a governing instrument is given effect as if the killer disclaimed all provisions revoked by this section or, in the case of a revoked nomination in a fiduciary or representative capacity, as if the killer predeceased the decedent.

(5) A killer's wrongful acquisition of property or interest not covered by this section shall be treated in accordance with the principle that a killer cannot profit from his or her wrong.

(6) After all right to appeal has been exhausted, a judgment of conviction establishing criminal accountability for the felonious and intentional killing of the decedent conclusively establishes the convicted individual as the decedent's killer for purposes of this section. In the absence of a conviction, the court, upon the petition of an interested person, shall determine whether, under the preponderance of evidence standard, the individual would be found criminally accountable for the felonious and intentional killing of the decedent. If the court determines that, under that standard, the individual would be found criminally accountable 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.

History: 1998, Act 386, Eff. Apr. 1, 2000
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