Castro v. Ballesteros-Suarez

Rule of Law:

Under Arizona's slayer statute, a beneficiary forfeits all interests in a decedent's estate, including community property shares of life insurance proceeds, if a court determines by a preponderance of the evidence that the beneficiary is criminally accountable for the decedent's felonious and intentional killing, even without a criminal conviction.

Facts:

• Adolfo F. Suarez purchased two life insurance policies in 2000 and paid premiums from a bank account used solely for that purpose.
• Adolfo married Luz Ballesteros-Suarez in 2001 and added her to the bank account in 2002, making the funds community property.
• On November 29, 2004, Adolfo was shot to death in his home; investigators found no forced entry, no robbery, and suspicious behavior by Luz, including phone calls and open blinds signaling an intruder.
• Luz became a suspect in the homicide but was not arrested or criminally convicted due to insufficient probable cause at the time.
• Luz attempted to collect the insurance proceeds as the named beneficiary.
• Evidence emerged that Luz offered money to Adolfo's sister (Castro) to not oppose her insurance claim.
• A forensic document examiner determined that Adolfo's signature on a change of beneficiary form for one of the policies was a forgery, misspelling his first name as 'Aldolfo'.

Procedural Posture:

• Luz requested life insurance proceeds from American Family and Fidelity.
• The insurance companies filed separate interpleader actions in the Superior Court to determine the proper beneficiary.
• Luz and the decedent's mother's estate (Castro) filed answers; the cases were consolidated.
• Luz filed motions for summary judgment to recover the proceeds, which were denied.
• The Superior Court conducted a bench trial.
• The Superior Court found Luz criminally accountable for the death and awarded the proceeds to Castro.
• Luz filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied.
• Luz appealed the judgment to the Court of Appeals of Arizona.