The Court Allowed a Woman to Inherit From Her Husband After Killing Him, How?

In 2020, a court allowed a woman who had caused the death of her husband of 30 years to inherit from him. This constituted an exception to the well-known Forfeiture Rule.

The rule is contained in the Forfeiture Act 1982 which says that a person who has unlawfully caused the death of another may forfeit their right to inherit from the deceased’s estate. That is unless circumstances compel a court to order otherwise.

The story of Mr and Mrs Amos from Pany y Bas in Wales was one of those exceptions.?

On 7th January 2019, the couple was driving from their home to a funeral when they got lost and decided to return home. Mrs Amos was behind the wheel when their vehicle collided with the car in front of them at a roundabout where traffic had come to a standstill. This caused a four-vehicle shunt, and both Mr and Mrs Amos were taken to the hospital as a result. Mr Amos, unfortunately, died hours later due to injuries sustained during the accident.

Mrs Amos was later charged with causing his death by careless driving under Section 2 B of the Road Traffic Act 1988, and the Road Safety Act 2016. She pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence. In his sentencing, the judge described the event as tragic, and Mrs Amos' loss as devastating, adding: “It is a significant punishment in itself, far exceeding anything that this court could, or would, consider passing.”

Mr Amos had written a Will in 2016 which confirmed that he had left his estate to Mrs Amos. This included his share in the home that they had purchased together in 1992. The couple worked hard at turning the once-dilapidated property into a beautiful home that would serve as a bed-and-breakfast by 2017. In terms of the doctrine of survivorship, Mrs Amos was due to inherit Mr Amos’ share in the home. The Forfeiture Rule, however, would disqualify her unless the court found it “unjust”. In that case, his beneficiaries would have been his daughter from a previous marriage, his granddaughter, and the son of Mrs Amos, also from a prior marriage.

Mr Amos’ daughter initially protested against his wife inheriting from him, alleging that he had expressed that he had wanted to change his Will. However, as he had not done so in writing, and as his daughter did not take the matter further, his 2016 Will remained in effect. As such, the court had to deal with the sole issue of whether Mrs Amos’ inheritance was to be forfeited or not.?

After considering their life story and that Mr Amos’ death was caused so tragically by his wife’s mistake, Judge Jarmin QC concluded that it would be unjust for the Rule to apply.?

The loss of Mrs Amos’ inheritance, the court stated, would be significantly out of proportion with her culpability. Accordingly, the Court found that justice required a context-based modification of the Forfeiture Rule in this instance, allowing her to receive her inheritance from her late husband’s estate.