For decades, New York has permitted individuals convicted of murder, but determined insane, to recover inheritance from their victims. based on their moral innocence. A case last year in Nassau County, however, has challenged that notion. The court in In Re Demesyeux, 978 N.Y.S.2d 608, has denied a mother who killed her three children from recovering funds from her children’s estate. The mother was not convicted of murder because the court found that she was mentally ill and therefore not guilty. Last month, the Kings County Surrogate’s Court called the Nassau court’s finding “a clear departure from existing law.” Estate of George J. Ledson, NYLJ, July 9, 2014.
This article examines approaches taken around the country to the question of denying inheritance rights to wrongdoers who are mentally incompetent. In New York, case law has addressed inheritance issues in murder cases and in specific instances of insanity (see for example, Riggs v. Palmer, 115 NY 506 (1889); Re Fitzsimmon’s Estate, 64 Misc.2d 622, 315 NYS2d 590 (1970); Re Bobula’s Estate, 19 NY2d 818 (1967); and Re Eckhard’s Estate, 184 Misc. 748, 757, 54 NYS2d 484, 492 (1945)).
