Leaving Someone Out of Your Will Text Size:

With a few exceptions you can leave your money and property to whomever you choose. The only groups that have any type of protection against disinheritance are spouses and children. You can disinherit your children but you must be careful how you do it in order for it to happen. When you disinherit a child make sure and mention them by name in the will and say that they should receive nothing. This goes for illegitimate children and stepchildren as well. If you just leave them out entirely they become a pretermitted heir and as such, they may have rights under the law. What happens, though, if you have a child that has died before you? You won't need to mention the child in your will, but you should certainly mention any grandchildren you have through them.

When you fail to mention a child in a will the courts will assume that you either forgot to, were not aware of the child, or mistakenly believed the child to be dead. The legal logic says that if such is the case then you would have of course provided for them had you remembered or known. Therefore the child will be entitled to their share of your estate. This protection is in place to guard against accidental disinheritance. When one of your children is actually dead, though, their children are entitled to the percentage of your estate that their parent would have received.

It is because of these pretermitted heir safeguards that it is crucial that you mention all heirs who would have a legal claim to your estate including children and children of deceased children. If you don't want these grandchildren inheriting by stepping up into the place of their deceased parent, your deceased child, you should specifically name them in your will and declare that they are to receive nothing.

Once you have done that, make sure to regularly update your will as changes in your life happen. Births and deaths in the family are two key things to be aware of and to reflect in updates to your will.

Questions for Your Attorney

• Not all of my children are living, but I do have grandchildren by my deceased children. What are my options for treating all my descendants fairly in my will?
• If I don't treat all my descendants equally in my will, can they challenge my will?
• If I have grandchildren from my child's former marriage, how do I effectively leave them out of my will if I don't want to include them in my estate plan?"

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