2023 Indiana Code › Title 29. Probate › Article 1. Probate Code › Chapter 2. Intestate Succession and Rights of Certain Interested Persons › 29-1-2-12.1. Constructive Trust

Sec. 12.1. (a) The following definitions apply throughout this section:
(1) "Culpable person" means any of the following:
(A) A person who:
(i) has been charged with causing an unlawful death; and
(ii) is found guilty, or guilty but mentally ill, on a charge of causing an unlawful death under a guilty plea or guilty verdict under IC 35-35-1 or IC 35-36-2.
(B) A person who is determined by a preponderance of the evidence in a civil action to have knowingly or intentionally caused an unlawful death.
(C) The estate of a person who:
(i) is described in clause (A) or (B); and
(ii) died after causing an unlawful death.
(2) "Decedent" means the victim of an unlawful death.
(3) "Unlawful death" means a death resulting from murder, voluntary manslaughter, or suicide caused by a person other than the decedent. The term includes a death resulting from an offense under IC 35-42-1-1, IC 35-42-1-2, or IC 35-42-1-3.
(b) A judgment of conviction is conclusive in a subsequent civil action to have a culpable person declared a constructive trustee under subsection (e).
(c) A culpable person is a constructive trustee of any property that is acquired by the culpable person or that the culpable person is entitled to receive as a result of an unlawful death, including the following:
(1) Property from a trust.
(2) Property from a transfer on death transfer under IC 32-17-14.
(3) Proceeds under a policy or certificate of life insurance on the life of the decedent, if the culpable person:
(A) is a beneficiary; and
(B) would otherwise be entitled to receive the proceeds;
under the policy or certificate.
(4) Proceeds under a policy or certificate of life insurance on the life of the culpable person, if the decedent:
(A) was a beneficiary; and
(B) would otherwise be entitled to receive the proceeds;
under the policy or certificate.
(5) The decedent's interest in joint tenancy property that would otherwise pass by survivorship to the culpable person as a result of the decedent's death.
(6) Property passing under a contractual agreement upon the decedent's death.
(d) If a culpable person dies after causing an unlawful death, life insurance proceeds that would otherwise be subject to a constructive trust under subsection (c)(3) or (c)(4) may be paid in the same manner as the life insurance proceeds would be paid if the culpable person had predeceased the decedent.
(e) A civil action may be initiated by an interested person to have a culpable person declared a constructive trustee of property that is acquired by the culpable person, or that the culpable person is otherwise entitled to receive as a result of an unlawful death. If a civil action is initiated under this subsection, the court shall declare that the culpable person is a constructive trustee of the property if by a preponderance of the evidence it is determined that the culpable person caused the unlawful death.
(f) If a constructive trust is established under this section, the property that is subject to the trust may be used only to benefit those persons, other than the culpable person and constructive trustee, legally entitled to the property, determined as if the constructive trustee had died immediately before the decedent. However, if any property that the constructive trustee acquired as a result of the unlawful death has been sold to an innocent purchaser for value who acted in good faith, that property is no longer subject to the constructive trust, but the property received from the purchaser under the transaction becomes subject to the constructive trust.
As added by P.L.147-1984, SEC.1. Amended by P.L.272-1985, SEC.1; P.L.238-2005, SEC.4; P.L.162-2022, SEC.5.