Halifax man who killed his wife will receive her full life insurance

In April 2017, Richard MacNeil (real name Richard Maidment) killed his wife Sarabeth Forbes, who had been married and had a child together. Maidment had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2012, which forced him to quit his job as a welder and collect long-term disability.

In December 2017, Maidment was found not criminally responsible for killing Forbes on account of a “mental disorder.”

Forbes’ mother had since been taking care of the couple’s son, and had applied to be to recipients of her life insurance.

A Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ruling, though, found that it would be Maidment who was to receive the funds.

Due to Maidment being listed as the policy beneficiary and their son as a “contingent beneficiary,” Maidment would still be receiving Forbes’ full life insurance.

Though there is policy in place to ensure that criminals do not benefit from crimes they’ve committed, the court’s ruling stated that Maidment was not criminally responsible for his crimes, meaning he would still be eligible for the insurance.

“That public policy rule has no application to this case. Richard has been found to be not criminally responsible,” wrote Justice Frank Edwards in his ruling. “He is not a criminal.”

Forbes had Maidment as the 100 percent sole beneficiary of the policy.

“There is no lawful reason to disqualify Richard from benefitting under Sarabeth’s life insurance policy,” said the ruling.