5-year-old daughter of B.C. man who killed his mother should receive share of estate, court rules

The five-year-old daughter of a B.C. man currently serving a life sentence in prison for murdering his mother will receive the roughly $400,000 inheritance her father forfeited when he committed the crime, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.

In a decision regarding the estate of Lois Unger issued last week, Justice Robert W. Jenkins determined that Unger's granddaughter - identified only by her first name, Adeline, in the decision - should receive a portion of the woman's estate. 

Unger was 51 when police discovered her body inside her home in Chilliwack's Yarrow neighbourhood on Feb. 24, 2016.

Nine days later, her son Clayton Jacob Warkentin, then 19, was arrested and charged in connection with the murder. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2018 and was sentenced to life in prison, with parole elegibility beginning after 10 years.

Adeline was born 11 days after her grandmother was killed, according to the court decision.

The executors of Unger's estate - two of the deceased woman's friends - asked the court for advice on whether Warkentin was entitled to receive his share of the estate and, if not, to whom it should pass.

The former question had a straightforward answer.

"In Canada, there is a rule of public policy which excludes the person responsible for another person’s death from taking any benefit because of their criminal act," Jenkins wrote in his decision.

Beyond that, Warkentin agreed to "voluntarily disclaim" his share of his mother's estate in a letter to the executors' solicitor in July 2018.

Given that Warkentin would not receive his share of the estate, Jenkins had to determine whether it should pass to his daughter Adeline, his brother Logan - who had already received the other half of the estate - or two charities named in Unger's will.

Logan Warkentin argued that - since Unger's intention was to divide her estate evenly between her two sons, and Clayton had disclaimed his share - he should receive the rest of the estate.

Jenkins disagreed with that interpretation of the will, noting that it contained clauses for apportioning shares of the estate to Unger's grandchildren if either of her sons were to die before her.

Even though Adeline had not yet been born at the time of Unger's death, Jenkins determined that it was clear Unger was aware of her unborn granddaughter and intended for her to be an alternate beneficiary of the will if her father, Clayton, had died.

"Adeline was an 'alternate beneficiary' of the gift to Clayton as … and is therefore the first priority for distribution of Clayton’s share," the justice wrote. "Logan was not an alternate beneficiary of Clayton. He was a primary beneficiary of the residue along with Clayton and had no claim against Clayton’s share."

Thus, Jenkins awarded Clayton's roughly $400,000 share of the estate to Adeline, to be held in trust for her benefit by the Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia.

Several other accounts - including an RRSP and a TFSA - that belonged to Unger are not considered part of her estate because they had named beneficiaries, specifically her two sons.

Jenkins awarded Clayton's share of those accounts to Logan, since he was the other named beneficiary. The total value of those accounts was approximately $83,000, according to the court decision.