BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 490|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 490
Author: Skinner (D), et al.
Amended: 5/23/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/4/13
AYES: Evans, Anderson, Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/11/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Intestate succession: children
SOURCE : Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of
California
DIGEST : This bill provides that a parent does not inherit
from or through a child on the basis of the parent and child
relationship if any of the following apply: (1) the parents
parental rights were terminated and the parent-child
relationship was not judicially reestablished; (2) the parent
did not acknowledge the child; or (3) the parent left the child
during the child's minority without an effort to provide for the
child's support or without communication from the parent, as
specified. This bill also provides that a parent who does not
inherit from or through the child as provided above shall be
deemed to have predeceased the child, and the intestate estate
shall pass as otherwise provided by the intestate statutes.
ANALYSIS :
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Existing law:
1.Provides that where a person dies without leaving a will to
provide for disposition of his or her property, that property
passes by intestate succession, i.e., as provided by statute.
2.Provides a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner
with one-half of the community and quasi-community property of
the deceased person (decedent), and, for the decedent's
separate property.
3.Provides that the part of the decedent's property not passing
to the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner, or, if
there is no spouse or domestic partner, the decedent's entire
estate passes to specified family members.
4.Provides that if a child is born out of wedlock, neither a
natural parent nor a relative of that parent inherits from or
through the child on the basis of the parent and child
relationship unless both of the following requirements are
satisfied: (1) the parent or a relative of the parent
acknowledged the child; and (2) the parent or a relative of
the parent contributed to the support or the care of the
child.
This bill:
1.Repeals the above intestate succession statute and instead
provides that a parent does not inherit from or through a
child on the basis of the parent and child relationship if any
of the following apply: (1) the parent's parental rights were
terminated and the parent-child relationship was not
judicially reestablished; (2) the parent did not acknowledge
the child; or (3) the parent left the child during the child's
minority without an effort to provide for the child's support
or without communication from the parent, for at least seven
consecutive years that continued until the end of the child's
minority, with the intent on the part of the parent to abandon
the child.
2.Provides that the failure to provide support for the child or
to communicate with the child for the prescribed period is
presumptive evidence of an intent to abandon.
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3.Provides that a parent who does not inherit from or through
the child as provided above shall be deemed to have
predeceased the child, and the intestate estate shall pass as
otherwise provided by intestate statutes.
Background
When a person dies without leaving a will to distribute his or
her property, the intestate statutes dictate how the property
will be distributed to the person's heirs. Under existing law,
the surviving spouse of the deceased person (decedent) receives
one-half of the intestate share of the property if the decedent
has no children but leaves a parent or parents or the parents'
children. However, a parent of a child who is born out of
wedlock can only inherit from the child if the parent
acknowledged the child and contributed to the support or care of
the child.
Prior Legislation
AB 2751 (Kaloogian, Chapter 862, Statutes of 1996) deleted the
exception which permitted siblings of a child born
out-of-wedlock and their issue to inherit on a different basis
than other relatives of the child.
AB 1137 (Knight, Chapter 529, Statutes of 1993) established the
existence of a parent-child relationship for the purpose of
determining intestate succession in a probate action by clear
and convincing evidence, reorganized intestate succession
statutes, and clarified the law regarding the intestate
inheritance rights of adoptees and their whole blood siblings.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/4/13)
Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of California
(source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
Under current law, a parent who intentionally abandoned a
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child born during a marriage may inherent from that child
through intestate succession even if the parent never saw
the child, communicated with the child, or provided any
support for the child. In addition, under current law a
parent who intentionally abandoned a child not born during
marriage may inherent from the child through intestate
succession if the parent acknowledged the child, for
example, by being named on the child's birth certificate,
and contributed some minimal support to the child.
AB 490 prohibits a parent who intentionally abandoned a
child, and neither supported nor communicated with that
child during the last [seven] years of his or her minority,
from inheriting from that child through intestate
succession, whether or not the child was born during
marriage.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/11/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Conway, Harkey, Lowenthal, Wilk, Vacancy
AL:nl 6/5/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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