In re Estate of Howard Mahoney, 126 Vt. 31

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court considered whether a widow convicted of manslaughter in connection with her husband's death could inherit from his intestate estate. The court held that the probate court improperly decreed the estate directly to the decedent's parents, because Vermont's statutes entitled the surviving spouse to the estate absent a valid equitable proceeding. It reversed and remanded, explaining that any constructive trust based on the widow's intentional killing had to be determined by the court of chancery.

Holdings

1. The Probate Court's decree awarding the estate directly to Howard Mahoney's parents contravened Vermont's statutes of descent and distribution because the surviving spouse was entitled to inherit under the statutory scheme.
2. Vermont recognizes the constructive-trust doctrine under which a person who intentionally and unlawfully kills another may hold property acquired from the victim as constructive trustee for the victim's heirs or next of kin, preventing the killer from improving her position through the killing.
3. The constructive-trust rule is not limited to murder; it applies to voluntary manslaughter because voluntary manslaughter is an intentional and unlawful killing, but it does not apply to involuntary manslaughter absent an intent to kill.
4. The Probate Court lacked jurisdiction to establish a purely equitable constructive-trust claim or to impose a constructive trust on the estate in the widow's hands.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a surviving spouse convicted of manslaughter in connection with the death of the decedent may inherit from the decedent's intestate estate.
2. Whether the Probate Court could award the estate directly to the decedent's parents contrary to the statutory order of descent and distribution.
3. Whether the Probate Court had jurisdiction to impose or establish a constructive trust based on the equitable principle that a killer should not profit from the killing.
4. Whether a court of chancery could be invoked to determine whether the widow intentionally killed the decedent and, if so, impose a constructive trust.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded