Schiavo and the Slayer Statute
I was recently at a meeting of estate planning attorneys, and one participant speculated that the Schiavo case may not yet be over, because Ms. Schiavo's parents could attempt to invoke Florida's "slayer statute" against Michael Schiavo.
Slayer statute is another name for a statute that prevents a person involved in a decedent's death from inheriting any of the decedent's property. The Florida statute can be found here. Florida's language applies if a person "unlawfully and intentionally kills or participates in procuring the death of the decedent." The language in Illinois (found here, although you have to scroll down to section 2-6) applies if a person "intentionally and unjustifiably causes the death of another person."
The key questions are obvious: what is intentional and what is unjustifiable (or, if you're in Florida, unlawful)? I'm not a Florida attorney, but given that Mr. Schiavo's actions were authorized by a number of courts, I don't know how you could argue successfully that they were unlawful.
I find the Illinois language somewhat troublesome in a "power of attorney" scenario. Let's say that A is terminally ill, and is married to B (who's also acting agent under A's power of attorney). A also has children from a prior marriage. B decides to "pull the plug" and let A die. It seems to me that A's children may have an action under section 2-6, or at least the ability to have a court revisit B's decision and decide if it was "unjustifiable."



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