In a chilling attack, a man stabbed his former wife to death after a bitter divorce – but he stood to inherit everything under her will.
asserted
he → stab → will
A Sydney court was asked to make orders about how the woman’s estate should be administered after her tragic death.
asserted
estate → ask → death
“The law’s message is blunt: you cannot kill your way into an inheritance,” said succession law expert Mary-Ann de Mestre, principal of Sydney law firm M de Mestre Lawyers.
asserted
Mestre → kill → firm
In its decision last month, the NSW Supreme Court examined the law of forfeiture, under which a person responsible for a deceased’s unlawful killing is barred from inheriting a share of their estate.
asserted
person → examine → estate
The woman in this case had made a will in 2012, before the couple separated in 2015.
asserted
couple → make → 2015
She left her estate to her husband.
asserted
She → leave → husband
In the event she outlived him, it was to be distributed between their children.
asserted
it → outlive → children
The court heard the former couple was involved in Family Court property settlement proceedings in Australia in about 2018, which were ultimately dismissed.
asserted
which → hear → 2018
‘The law’s message is blunt: you cannot kill your way into an inheritance.’Mary-Ann de Mestre, principal of Sydney law firm M de Mestre Lawyers.
asserted
you → kill → Lawyers
“The family law proceedings were the catalyst for what followed,” Justice Francois Kunc said in his judgment.
asserted
Kunc → follow → judgment
The identities of parties to family law proceedings cannot be reported.
asserted
identities → report → proceedings
In 2018, the offender sold two of the three properties the former couple had owned, including a home on Sydney’s lower north shore.
asserted
couple → sell → shore
When the ex-wife became aware of this, she lodged a caveat preventing the sale of the third property.
asserted
she → become → property
Months later, the offender fatally stabbed the deceased overseas, the judge said.
asserted
judge → stab → deceased
“Because this is a civil proceeding, the court must be satisfied on the civil standard – the balance of probabilities – that the offender unlawfully killed the deceased,” Kunc said.
asserted
Kunc → kill → deceased
“The evidence proves that the offender was convicted of murder by ... [an overseas] court.”
asserted
offender → prove → court
The judge said there was evidence before the NSW court of “unequivocal admissions by the offender”.
asserted
judge → say → offender
In one document, the man wrote that he had told police: “It’s the divorce laws that are responsible for me having committed this crime.”
asserted
me → write → crime
After his conviction overseas, he said his confidence in the legal system had been “gravely damaged” because of “the line of argument used in the court’s judgment”.
asserted
confidence → say → judgment
But he admitted that “I killed my wife” and said it was “something that I am not trivialising at all”.
asserted
I → admit → that
The judge relied chiefly on those admissions in finding, on the balance of probabilities, that the man had murdered his ex-wife.
asserted
man → rely → wife
The executor of the woman’s estate applied to the court for a declaration about how the assets should be administered.
asserted
assets → apply → declaration
“The effect of the forfeiture rule is that the offender is disentitled from taking any interest in the estate, and is to be treated as notionally non‑existent,” the judge said.
asserted
judge → disentitle → estate
It left the children as sole beneficiaries.
asserted
It → leave → beneficiaries
The judge said that half of the proceeds from the sale of the former couple’s jointly-owned properties were held on trust for the estate.
asserted
half → say → estate
“Few areas of succession law are more confronting: the court cannot undo the killing, but it can ensure the killer does not turn it into a payday,” said de Mestre, a lecturer at Macquarie University.
asserted
Mestre → confront → University
She said published forfeiture decisions were “exceptionally rare”.
asserted
decisions → say → ?
A criminal conviction was not essential for the rule to apply, de Mestre said.
asserted
Mestre → apply → ?
“A civil court can determine for itself whether the person unlawfully killed the deceased, applying the [lower] civil standard of proof,” she said.
asserted
she → determine → proof
“Even a criminal acquittal does not necessarily resolve the civil question because the standards of proof are different.”
asserted
standards → resolve → proof
The forfeiture rule is not limited to murder and extends to other unlawful killings, such as manslaughter.
asserted
rule → limit → manslaughter
However, under NSW law, the court may modify the effect of the forfeiture rule in cases that do not involve murder.
uncertain
that → modify → murder
In a 2021 case, the Supreme Court modified the rule to allow a husband who unintentionally caused his wife’s death by dangerous driving to inherit her estate.
asserted
who → modify → estate
Conversely, in a 2018 decision, the court applied the rule to a mentally ill son who killed his parents but was found not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness.
asserted
who → apply → illness
He was “prevented from receiving approximately $1 million, although $100,000 was preserved in trust for his maintenance”, de Mestre said.
asserted
Mestre → prevent → maintenance
While the offender’s motive is generally irrelevant, she said, “the nature of the offence and the offender’s moral culpability may be relevant if the court is asked to modify the rule”.
uncertain
court → say → rule
The rule applies automatically, and a court order is not strictly necessary.
asserted
order → apply → ?
But de Mestre said that in practice “an executor, trustee, insurer or other stakeholder will usually seek Supreme Court declarations before redirecting an inheritance or dealing with jointly-owned property”.
asserted
executor → say → property
“The order determines precisely where the property should go and protects the executor from personal liability for distributing it incorrectly,” she said.
asserted
she → determine → it
Be the first to know when major news happens.
asserted
news → know → ?
The Aporia
