Slayer rule

Wills, trusts and estates
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The slayer rule, in the U.S. law of inheritance, stops a person inheriting property from a person they murdered (so that, for example, a murderer cannot inherit from parents or a spouse they killed).

While a criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the slayer rule applies to civil law, not criminal law, so the petitioner must only prove the murder by a preponderance of the evidence, as in a wrongful death claim meaning on the civil standard of proof of the balance of probability. Hence, even a slayer who is acquitted of the crime of murder can lose the inheritance by the civil court running the estate.

So far, 47 states have codified the slayer statute, either by adopting the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) or a version of the code that includes the slayer statute.