Interesting Probate Proceedings – What did the Decedent Want?
December 1, 2008UncategorizedNo CommentsRecently I have read about two cases that have interesting fact situations that are being heard in probate courts . While neither of them are California cases, as a California probate attorney it is important for me to be aware of what is going on nationally.
In Florida, Jessica Kalish was stabbed to 222 times with a screwdriver by her lover, Carol Ann Burger. Kalish and Burger owned a home in joint tenancy. Therefore, under normal operation of law, the home became Burger’s upon Kalish’s death. (Burger killed herself a day later). However, Florida has what is known as a “Slayer Statute” which provides that murderers and their estates cannot inherit from the victims.
Just this week, Wendy Hunter Roberts, a feminist writer, therapist, and new age guru filed an action seeking part of Kalish’s estate. Roberts claims that she had “a very close personal relationship” with Kalish and that according to her there is a will naming her as a beneficiary. Therefore her attorney has indicated that he will file a “request for access to the property to find that will.”
As a probate lawyer based in Los Angeles, but handling cases throughout the state of California, I always explain that it is extremely important that people have their estate planning in order. I realize it is easy to write this after the fact, but it would have been wise for Ms. Kalish to have held her interest in the property in a living trust. In that document she would have set forth her beneficiaries. Another option would have been to hold title to the property as tenants in common.
The second case involves a couple in Ohio and their son. That son was convicted of attempting to kill his adoptive parents. Two years after that attempt, Walter and Mildred Sowell had wills prepared. In their wills, they left $50 for their only child. They left the remainder of their estates to the other. Unfortunately, or not, there was no mention of secondary heirs.
Therefore, under the laws of intestacy, the son who attempted to murder them in 1982 now appears ready to collect more than $500,000. To his credit, the now 43 year old runs a commercial cleaning business. Previously he was in the Navy and he also drove an 18-wheeler for 10 years.
Did his parents want him to receive everything? We will never know. Not just in Ohio, but probate courts in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, or Riverside Counties are not in the business of deciding what decedents should have wanted or even what they might have wanted.
