Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what protections are in place to prevent a convicted domestic abuser inheriting from the death of their spousal victim in the absence of an individual will.

The law at the moment does not automatically change inheritance rights for any conviction other than preventing those guilty of unlawful killings from being beneficiaries (the ‘forfeiture rule’). The rationale is that people would take steps such as divorce or making a will to prevent abusers benefitting from their estate once the abusive relationship has ended.

The Government is currently giving consideration to this issue, and I understand that my colleague Lord Wolfson is soon to meet the honourable member on the matter.