slayer rule
The slayer rule disqualifies a person who committed murder from retaining a property interest in their victim’s estate. The slayer rule is found in trust and estates law and was intended to prevent those who commit murder from receiving the victim’s inheritance. The slayer rule allows courts to presume the murderer disclaims their property interest, and therefore behave as though the murderer predeceased the victim.
The slayer rule applies only if the killing was felonious and intentional. The murderer is not required to be convicted of the crime; however, if they are convicted of murder, the conviction establishes a conclusive presumption that the murderer did feloniously and intentionally kill the victim. Not-guilty judgments or the absence of criminal prosecution are not conclusive in the application of the slayer rule.
In the case Ford v. Ford, 307 Md. 105 (1986) the Court applied the slayer rule according to Maryland common law in an attempt to determine that a daughter who was found guilty of her mother’s murder in the first-degree would be barred from her mother’s inheritance. The daughter was ultimately not barred from the inheritance since she was held criminally not responsible by reason of insanity, which complicated the intentional condition of the slayer rule.
[Last reviewed in September of 2026 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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