No Inheritance If You Abuse Your Spouse

Carla Spivack (Professor of Law, Oklahoma City University School of Law) recently published her article entitled, Let’s Get Serious: Spousal Abuse Should Be a Complete Bar to Inheritance, Working Paper Series (2011). The abstract available on SSRN is below:

This article reaches into the realm of succession law to propose that evidence of spousal abuse should raise a presumption that the transfer was the result of duress, and such evidence, unless rebutted, would bar the abuser from inheriting under the victim’s will, through nonprobate transfers, and under intestacy. Unlike the few previous articles that have covered this topic in passing, this one proposes a complete ban – that is, on inheritance under a will, a will substitute (such as a trust or a life insurance policy) or under intestacy – lays out justification for the bar in the context of inheritance law, and offers a detailed plan for implementation.