The California Legislature is very adept at killing jobs and increasing unemployment, but this may be the only time that nobody will object.

The Assembly has come to the rescue of one constituent who has a problem. It seems that his ex wife keeps hiring hit men to “off” the guy. Ex wife is currently in prison, but apparently she still stands to benefit financially if something unpleasant just happens to befall her former hubby.

Tired of constantly looking over his shoulder, former hubby asked his assemblyman to sponsor AB 2674 which provides that when one spouse is convicted of soliciting the murder of another spouse, the injured spouse is entitled to all of the community property interests in retirement and pension benefits, as well as all life insurance. Further, the injured spouse is relieved from awards of spousal support, medical insurance benefits or other payments to the convicted spouse.

All this is good, unless the convicted spouse was successful. It would probably be of little consolation to the deceased to know that the ex spouse wouldn’t get any money after all. I can just hear him thinking now as he fades away…”well she got me, but at least she won’t get my IRA account!”

If signed by the Governor, this bill will remove the financial incentive of spouses to hire hit men, but is silent on what happens if they were to do the deed themselves. Hopefully that is covered somewhere else.

Read more tax articles from Paul’s tax blog