Yes, depending on the nature of the crime and if convicted. In re Donald F. Clark Trust, Court of Appeals January 16, 2025 (unpublished).
This appeal involved the probate court's winddown of the Donald F. Clark Trust. Donald was married to Elaine. After Donald died, as well as his son, the trust became for Elaine's sole benefit. At Elaine’s death, if there were trust assets left, they would pass to Michael Mooney, who served as the initial trustee.
The Court of Appeals first analyzed whether the trustee had under-distributed to Elaine after Donald’s death. In concluding the trustee had not, the court focused on the highly discretionary language of the trust regarding distributions to Elaine. “This trust has been designed to provide maximum flexibility in the trustee to provide financial assistance to Elaine during her lifetime, while at the same time protecting trust assets from the reach of her creditors and others.” The trustee stated that he had regularly met with Elaine and paid her what the trustee determined she needed, continually reviewed requests for Elaine's living expenses, paid property taxes on Elaine's real property and paid for repairs for this real property. The court determined there was nothing to support that Elaine’s needs were not being met. It was further recognized that the trust was not Elaine's only means of financial support.
The Court of Appeals also analyzed the slayer statute issue. The slayer statute, contained within MCL 700.2803, “is derived from the common-law rules that one who commits a murder cannot benefit by his or her criminal act and that no devisee can take under the will of a testator whose death has been caused by the criminal act of the devisee.”
Mooney was charged with two counts of soliciting Elaine’s murder. Under MCL 700.2803, two actions trigger the statute's application: (1) a felonious and intentional killing or (2) a conviction of abuse, neglect or exploitation of the decedent. Mooney was bound over for trial on two charges of solicitation of murder, but the charges were later dismissed. It was ultimately concluded that Elaine died of natural causes. The plain language of the slayer statute refers to “a killer or felon,” of which Mooney was neither. Nor was Mooney convicted of abusing, neglecting or exploiting Elaine. Therefore, the slayer statute did not apply or prohibit Mooney from inheriting from the trust after Elaine’s death.
