 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Estate of Castiglioni11/16/1995
NARES, J.:
We here deal with the Disposition of property that was joint tenancy property after there has been a felonious, intentional killing of one joint tenant spouse by the other, a factual pattern subject to Probate Code section 251. As a matter of first impression we give effect to relatively new developments in California law concerning tracing contributions to jointly held property in order to determine entitlement to the property after the killing.
Section 251 provides in part:
"A joint tenant who feloniously and intentionally kills another joint tenant thereby effects a severance of the interest of the decedent so that the share of the decedent passes as the decedent's property and the killer has no rights by survivorship. . . . "
Under circumstances where one spouse, here the wife, feloniously and intentionally kills the other spouse who placed his separate property, both real and personal, in joint tenancy with the surviving spouse long before the killing, what is "the share of the decedent" passing as the decedent's property under section 251? Does the decedent's share consist of an undivided one-half of the former joint tenancy property? Or, may the personal representative of the estate apply a tracing or other legal or equitable principle to establish a greater share of the decedent to pass in the estate? These are the issues in this appeal.
Elizabeth Del Pozo (Administrator), special administrator of the estate of Guiseppe Castiglioni (Decedent), appeals an order of the probate court granting the petition of Annie J. Castiglioni (Spouse) requiring the Administrator to release one-half of joint tenancy bank accounts and joint tenancy rents to Spouse. Spouse stands convicted of the first degree murder of Decedent with a true finding the murder was intentional and carried out for financial gain. (Pen. Code, ยงยง 187, subd. (a); 190.2, subd. (a)(1).) She is sentenced to prison for life without possibility of parole on the first degree murder count.
Administrator argues that although section 251 and case law determine the Disposition of joint tenancy property where one joint tenant kills the other as in this case, it was error to award one-half to Spouse in light of the fact the accounts were Decedent's separate property before marriage.
Considering developments in California statutory law with respect to tracing and in the context of existing decisional law, we conclude the court erred in awarding one-half of the joint tenancy accounts and rents to the surviving Spouse who feloniously and intentionally killed the Decedent.
With respect to accounts subject to statutes dealing with tracing, we hold the share of the decedent under section 251 must be determined with reference to the tracing statutes. Similarly, section 251 expressly applies to real property and we determine adherence to the legislative purpose of the statutory scheme requires applying an identical result to this form of property. Since the matter was decided in the trial court without consideration of recent laws relating to tracing, we remand the case for further consideration in light of the tracing statutes.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Spouse killed Decedent on June 5, 1994. At the time she was 51 and he was 85 years of age. They were married about five years and had lived together approximately five years before the marriage.
Before the couple married, Decedent owned three parcels of real property as his separate property: one commercial in National City, and one residential rental and one personal res
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 California Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|