Wisconsin’s District 4 Court of Appeals has held that a state law that prohibits anyone who “intentionally kills” another from inheriting from the person does not apply to those who assist in suicide. In the court’s unanimous opinion, Judge Margaret Vergeront wrote, “Providing (the man) with a loaded shotgun did not deprive him of his life: he deprived himself of life by shooting himself with the shotgun,”
Edward Schunk, 63, shot himself in 2006 in a cabin on his property while dying from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer. His estate was valued at nearly $500,000. The court granted Schunk’s wife, Linda, and youngest child, Megan Schunk, now 20, most of the estate, after five of the six older children challenged his will. The older children claimed that Linda and Megan Schunk took Schunk to the cabin, gave him a loaded shotgun and left even though they knew he was suicidal.
Tags: assisted suicide, schunk
