REFORM OF IRISH SUCCESSION LAW

The Law Reform Commission, the body that recommends law reforms to the Government, is seeking submissions on possible amendments to the inheritance rights of convicted killers.

Irish succession law is governed by the Succession Act 1965 which states that a person should not be able to inherit the estate of a person who he/she has murdered or attempted to murder or kill.

However, the current provisions do not cover a situation where the killer and deceased were joint owners of property, such as the family home.

This has arisen most recently in the case of Eamon Lillis who was sentenced to six years and 11 months in prison for the manslaughter of his wife, Celine Cawley. As mentioned above, under the Succession Act, a killer cannot inherit the estate of the deceased victim. However, where they are joint owners, and one of them dies, the property automatically passes to the surviving joint owner. A High Court action was taken in a bid to prevent Mr. Lillis from so inheriting. However, he argued that he had interests in this property before her death and these were property rights protected by the Constitution. The Court held that in the absence of legislation it had ‘no power or jurisdiction’ to interfere with the Defendant’s rights.

Ms. Justice Laffoy stated that ‘ideally, there should be legislation in place’ to deal with the destination of such properties.

The Law Reform Commission will also be examining whether or not a criminal conviction is admissible in subsequent civil proceedings. This had arisen in the 2013 case involving Catherine Nevin where the High Court found that her murder conviction could be admitted in the civil action by her husband’s family who were trying to prevent her inheriting his assets.

The announcement by the Law Reform Commission is a welcome development and will hopefully bring clarity to the law of succession on this issue.

We will continue to review the progress of the Law Reform Commission and report back on further developments in this area as they arise.

Katie Nugent