Jtwrs

[nikkinmiss]

What is the name of your state? Mississippi

I am not sure if this is the correct forum that I should post this question but I will give it a shot anyway,
My father and his wife owned a home together JTWRS. His wife murdered him and was convicted, but lawyer told me that due to her having survivorship rights that there was nothing that me or my brother or sister could do as far as the house was concerned. If I understand correctly from internet searchs then she would only be intitled to her half of the home because she would not be able to get Dads half due to her killing him. Could someone please explain to me how this works.

 

[anteater]

What is the name of your state? Mississippi

I am not sure if this is the correct forum that I should post this question but I will give it a shot anyway,
My father and his wife owned a home together JTWRS. His wife murdered him and was convicted, but lawyer told me that due to her having survivorship rights that there was nothing that me or my brother or sister could do as far as the house was concerned. If I understand correctly from internet searchs then she would only be intitled to her half of the home because she would not be able to get Dads half due to her killing him. Could someone please explain to me how this works.

Unfortunately, I doubt that you can get a definitive answer here unless another poster is well-versed in Mississippi statutes and case law.

Property jointly owned with right of survivorship usually passes automatically to the surviving co-owner(s) under the laws govering ownership of property rather than the estate/trust/probate statutes. Whether the MS statute prohibiting a person willfully causing the death of another from inheriting extends to jointly-owned property is probably only something a MS attorney can answer.

Since the statute reads that someone willfully causing the death of another is treated as if they "..had predeceased the person whose death he perpetrated", one could argue by extension that the property would be considered solely owned by your father and would pass according to his will or intestate succession. But, I have no idea if that argument is backed up by other statute or case law or would be recognized by the court.

(Probably would have been better to post in the Wills & Trusts forums. But, I don't know that you would get a better answer there.)

 

[nikkinmiss]

Thanks for giving it a go anteater, you actually gave it a better shot at answering than the two local attorneys that I have spoken with.