 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
In re Estate of Maldonado7/22/2005
" The statute of limitations begins to run immediately after the death, not after the tort which caused the injury.
Thus we conclude that any interests or proceeds in wrongful death cannot be considered property owned by the surviving spouse at the time of the decedent's death.
Similarly, wrongful death proceeds are not "property that passe to the surviving spouse by reason of the decedent's death." While this statutory language might include property within the augmented estate that vests in the surviving spouse immediately after the decedent's death, it cannot be said that wrongful death proceeds "pass" to the surviving spouse by reason of the decedent's death. The verb "pass" connotes that the assets pre-existed the decedent's death. The expectancy interest in wrongful death proceeds is an asset that is created by reason of the decedent's death; it is not an asset that passes from one owner to another.
The Second Circuit came to a similar conclusion in an estate tax case. It held that a right of action for wrongful death proceeds cannot be considered property owned at death: "Simple logic mandates the conclusion that an action for wrongful death cannot exist until a decedent has died, at which point, he is no longer a person capable of owning any property interests." The court differentiated pre-existing property interests and noted that a wrongful death action "itself has sprung from the fact that the death has taken place" and that "there was no property interest in the decedent which passed by virtue of his death, but rather one which arose after his death." We find this logic to apply equally to the elective share provisions.
We reject the GAL's attempt to analogize wrongful death proceeds to life insurance proceeds. The payout under a decedent's life insurance policy represents a non-probate transfer that is added back into the augmented estate, regardless of whether the beneficiary was the surviving spouse or some other third party. But there are important differences between life insurance and wrongful death proceeds. First, a life insurance policy exists pursuant to a contractual agreement, which vests some parties with property interests in the contract before the decedent's death. Thus it can be said that a survivor has a contractual interest in the property at the time of death, or, in the case where the surviving spouse is a life insurance beneficiary, that the property, previously owned by the decedent or a third party, "passed to the surviving spouse by reason of the decedent's death." Second, for the reasons that follow, we are satisfied that the legislative history of the elective share statute and the policy behind the wrongful death statute support treating wrongful death proceeds differently from life insurance and other contractual rights to payment.
1. Legislative History
Alaska legislators looked to the Uniform Probate Code in revising Alaska's probate laws. Yet a review of the UPC's commentary and of the legislative history of amendments to AS 13.12.203-.207 reveals no indication that wrongful death proceeds were intended to be included within the augmented estate as property of the surviving spouse.
The commentary to the UPC discusses thirty-four examples of property in the augmented estate, nine of which specifically fall under the category of property owned by the surviving spouse at decedent's death under § 2-207. Not one example includes or is analogous to an interest in wrongful death proceeds. Moreover, the examples contemplated under § 2-207 all represent contractual interests, such as life insurance policies or irrevocable inter vivos trusts, which are substantially different from an independ
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Alaska Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|