Gerard Baden-Clay Barred From Inheriting From Late Wife

The family of Gerard Baden-Clay’s late wife, Allison Baden-Clay, who was killed in 2012, lodged a successful application for the full administration of her will, which bars the convicted killer from inheriting from her nearly $1 million estate.

Allison’s father, Geoffrey Dickie has been named as the sole administrator of her will, which includes her life insurance and superannuation policies, by Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Peter Applegarth and asked for full control so he could “finalise affairs of the estate”.

Baden-Clay is serving a life sentence for the 2012 murder of his wife Allison, who was found by a creek ten days after she was reported missing by her husband, who was later charged, convicted of murder, which was downgraded to manslaughter after an appeal, and then restored to murder in August of 2016.

Upon his ruling, Justice Peter Applegarth commented that, "Gerard Robert Baden-Clay is not entitled to obtain or receive any benefit he would otherwise obtain or receive arising from the death of the deceased".

While Allison’s family have yet to comment on the ruling, this decision comes after years of trials and appeals on their part and marks, at least, the beginning of the end for their time in court regarding this issue.

This ruling on this issue went uncontested by Gerard Baden-Clay and means he will not receive any money from his late wife’s estate or will, which includes two life insurance policies valued at $350,000 with Suncorp and $412,267 with TAL Life Limited, which was also a joint policy for the former couple.

It also holds significance because it falls under the ‘slayer rule’, which, although an American law, states that a murderer cannot inherit from the person they murdered, e.g. a child from their parents or, indeed, a spouse from their spouse in the instance that they murdered them.

Gerard Baden-Clay is currently serving a non-parole period of 15 years and is eligible for release in 2027.