WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
A BILL to amend and
reenact §̀36-1-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and
to amend and reenact §42-4-2 of said code, all relating generally to barring persons
who are convicted of certain criminal offenses from acquiring property from
their victims through joint tenancy or inheritance; and creating exceptions.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §36-1-20 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §42-4-2
of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 36. ESTATES AND
PROPERTY.
ARTICLE 1. CREATION OF
ESTATES GENERALLY.
§36-1-20. When
survivorship preserved.
(a) The preceding section
shall not apply to any estate which joint tenants have as executors or
trustees, nor to an estate conveyed or devised to persons in their own right,
when it manifestly appears from the tenor of the instrument that it was
intended that the part of the one dying should then belong to the others.
Neither shall it affect the mode of proceeding on any joint judgment or decree
in favor of, or on any contract with, two or more, one of whom dies.
(b) When the instrument of
conveyance or ownership in any estate, whether real estate or tangible or
intangible personal property, links multiple owners together with the
disjunctive "or," such ownership shall be held as joint tenants with
the right of survivorship, unless expressly stated otherwise.
(c) No person convicted of
violating the provisions of section one or three, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code as a principal, aider and abettor or accessory before
the fact, or convicted of a similar provision of law of another state or the
United States, or who has been convicted of an offense causing the death of an
incapacitated person set forth in section twenty-nine-a, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code, as a principal, aider and abettor or accessory before
the fact, or convicted of a similar provision of law of another state or the
United States, may take or acquire
any real or personal property by survivorship pursuant to this section when the
victim of the criminal offense was a joint holder of title to the property. The
property to which the person so convicted would otherwise have been entitled shall
go to the person or persons who would have taken the same if the person so
convicted had predeceased the victim.
(d) A person who has been convicted of an offense
of abuse or neglect of an incapacitated adult pursuant to section twenty-nine,
article two, chapter sixty-one of this code, a felony offense of financial
exploitation of an elderly person, protected person or an incapacitated adult
pursuant to section twenty-nine–b of that article, or convicted of a similar
provision of law of another state or the United States, may not take or acquire
any real or personal property by survivorship pursuant to this section, when
the victim of the criminal offense is a joint holder of the title to the
property. The money or property which the person would have otherwise have
received shall go to the person or persons who would have taken the money or
property if the person so convicted had predeceased the victim. This subsection
does not apply if, after the conviction, the victim of the offense, if competent,
executes a recordable instrument, sworn to, notarized and witnessed by two
persons that would be competent as witnesses to a will of the victim, expresses
a specific intent to allow the person so convicted to retain his or her tenancy
in the property with rights of survivorship.
CHAPTER 42. DESCENT AND
DISTRIBUTION.
ARTICLE 4. GENERAL
PROVISIONS.
§42-4-2. Homicide bars
acquisition of estate or insurance money.
No (a) A person who has been convicted of feloniously
killing another, or of conspiracy in the killing of another, shall may
not take or acquire any money or property, real or personal, or interest
therein, from the one killed or conspired against, either by descent and
distribution, or by will, or by any policy or certificate of insurance, or
otherwise; but the money or the property to which the person so convicted would
otherwise have been entitled shall go to the person or persons who would have
taken the same if the person so convicted had been dead at the date of the
death of the one killed or conspired against, unless by some rule of law or
equity the money or the property would pass to some other person or persons.
(b) A person who has been convicted of an offense
causing the death of an incapacitated person set forth in section
twenty-nine-a, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code, or convicted of a
similar provision of law of another state or the United States, may not take or
acquire any money or property, real or personal, or interest therein, from the
victim decedent, either by descent and distribution, or by will, or by any
policy or certificate of insurance, or otherwise; but the money or the property
to which the person so convicted would otherwise have been entitled shall go to
the person or persons who would have taken the same if the person so convicted
had been dead at the date of the death of the decedent, unless by law the money
or the property would pass to some other person or persons,
(c) A person who has
been convicted of an offense of abuse or neglect of an incapacitated adult
pursuant to section twenty-nine, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code, a
felony offense of financial exploitation of an elderly person, protected person
or incapacitated adult pursuant to section twenty-nine–b, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code, or convicted of a similar provision of law of another
state or the United States, may not take or acquire any money or property, real
or personal, or any interest therein, from the victim of the offense, either by
descent and distribution, or by will, or by any policy or certificate of
insurance, or otherwise. The money or the property to which the person so
convicted would otherwise have been entitled shall go to the person or persons
who would have taken the same if the person so convicted had been dead at the
date of the death of the victim, unless by law the money or the property would
pass to some other person or persons. This subsection does not apply if, after
the conviction, the victim of the offense, if competent, executes a recordable
instrument, sworn to, notarized and witnessed by two persons that would be
competent witnesses to a will of the victim, expresses a specific intent to
allow the person so convicted to inherit or otherwise receive the money, estate
or other property of the victim of the offense.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to bar persons who are convicted of certain criminal offenses from acquiring
property from their victims through joint tenancy or inheritance. The bill also
creates exceptions.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.