Is It A Good Idea to Attempt to Disinherit A Child?

You have the power to disinherit any or all of your children regardless of what state you live in, so long as you expressly name these terms in your estate planning materials. If you fail to mention a child specifically in your individual will, that child could still maintain a legal right to claim a portion of your property depending on your individual state laws.

If you want to disinherit a child, you will need to sit down with your estate planning lawyer and discuss how you intend to do this directly. One of the leading ways that many spouses choose to approach this situation is to leave all of their property to the other spouse, while naming children as alternate beneficiaries.

This helps to protect and minimize the chances that someone could allege that a child was overlooked. There is no legal requirement that if you intend to disinherit a child you must explicitly state this inside your will, but you can if you wish to do so.