A recent lawsuit involving a tragic incident in which a man allegedly shot his cancer-stricken wife then committed suicide questions whether Georgia's "slayer statute" means the man's son and executor can use estate funds to pay lawyers fighting efforts to oust him.

The deceased woman was her husband's second wife and stepmother to his two sons. Her siblings are asking the court to declare that, under the law, she legally survived her husband and that her court-appointed executor is therefore empowered to administer the estate.