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Inheritance Allowed After Suicide

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The Associated Press

Published: September 26, 2008

MADISON, Wis. - The wife and daughter of a man who committed suicide can inherit his estate even if they assisted him in the act, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
Wisconsin law prohibits anyone who "intentionally kills" another from inheriting from the person, but the state's District 4 Court of Appeals said that provision does not apply to those who assist in suicide.

"Providing the man with a loaded shotgun did not deprive him of his life: he deprived himself of life by shooting himself with the shotgun," Judge Margaret Vergeront wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel.

Wisconsin Right to Life, which opposes assisted suicide, said the ruling gives people a financial incentive to help relatives die prematurely.

"It's a horrendous decision," said Barbara Lyons, the group's leader. "I think the implications are enormous."
Boston College law Professor Ray Madoff, an expert on inheritance law, said she has never heard of a similar ruling.

"This is something that people have been curious about where the law would draw the line, and it's interesting to actually have a case addressing it," she said.

Edward Schunk, 63, shot himself in 2006 in a cabin on his property. He was terminally ill with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer, and he left an estate valued at nearly $500,000.

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