The recommendations for changes in this area, were brought about primarily as a response to the court case of Cawley v Lillis in 2011, when the family of Celine Cawley sought to prevent her husband who was convicted in respect of her wrongful death, from inheriting the share Celine held in their family home. The courts, due to current Succession law, could not prevent him from doing so.
Under current law, a person cannot profit from an estate of a person he/she has murdered, attempted to murder or killed in circumstances amounting to manslaughter. However jointly held property is not included in a person’s estate, and as such a house held in joint names can pass in full to the person responsible for the death.
In response to public concern and judicial commentary in this area, the Law Reform Commission recently prepared a report on the changes needed in this area of the law to meet these concerns. The key recommendations for change include:
- Joint ownership is automatically divided by the court, and it is presumed that the deceased owned at least 50%
- The court can decide the final division of the property based upon what is “just and equitable”. This means in theory, that 100% of the property could be preserved for the deceased person’s family.
- The person responsible for the death cannot take out a Grant of Probate to the Deceased’s Estate without court permission.
- If the outcome of a criminal trial is awaited, the family of the deceased can enter a “caveat” in the Probate Office, and against the property, preventing the accused from dealing with the property until the trial is concluded.
If you need any further information or advice on any of the issues raised in this blog, please call us on 0402 24370 or emailinfo@dmburke.ie