Court Opinion

ID: 9778065
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:31:19.428058+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:03.463482
License: Public Domain

VANCE, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. The dissent suggests that K.R.S. 396.025 which provides time limitations after which claims against a deceased’s estate are barred should be applicable in this case. The majority correctly concludes, however, that this statute is not applicable because it deals only with creditors’ claims against an estate. As a procedural matter, if the assertion of the right to inherit were to be considered a claim against an estate subject to being barred by the time limitations of K.R.S. 396.025, all heirs, legitimate or otherwise, would be required to file a claim within the period of limitations or else their right to inheritance would be barred.
The length of time required before estates can be settled with finality is, of course, a matter of great concern. The United States Supreme Court, in its decision in Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. 762, 97 S.Ct. 1459, 52 L.Ed.2d 31 (1977), has made it beyond dispute that an illegitimate child has a constitutionally protected right to inherit from its father. This being so, that *785right cannot be foreclosed by statutes of limitation during the infancy of the child. So, as a practical matter, an illegitimate child bom after the death of its father can appear and assert its right of inheritance at least until it reaches the age of majority. A state is powerless to prevent this time lag which impacts upon the finality of settlement of estates. A state can enact a statute of limitations which provide a reasonable time limit within which an illegitimate child, after it reaches the age of majority, must assert its right to inherit from the estate of its father. This problem was noted by this court in our decision in Fykes v. Clark, Ky., 635 S.W.2d 316 (1982), but the General Assembly of Kentucky has not yet enacted any such legislation.
GANT and LEIBSON, JJ., join in this concurring opinion.