In the Matter of the Swansons' Estate
Montana Supreme Court
187 P.3d 631 (2008)
Jeanette Swanson (defendant), who suffered from mental disorders and believed someone was trying to hurt her children, shot and killed two of them, saying she wanted to send them to heaven to protect them, and pled guilty to deliberate homicide. The children's father, Gene Swanson (plaintiff), as personal representative of their estate, petitioned under Montana's slayer statute - which forfeits inheritance rights for anyone who "feloniously and intentionally" kills the decedent - to have Jeanette's interest in the estate forfeited, and the district court granted him summary judgment.
Whether, for purposes of a slayer statute, a guilty plea automatically bars the defendant from inheriting the decedent's estate.