WEST virginia Legislature

2016 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4308

By Delegates Rowan, Border, Fast, Stansbury, Moye, Campbell, Overington, Romine, Duke,
R. Phillips and Ferro

[Introduced January 27, 2016; Referred
to the Committee on Senior Citizen Issues then 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 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, 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, or convicted of a similar provision of law of another state or the United States, 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.