To disinherit someone from your will, state your intent clearly and by name rather than simply leaving that person out. Most states let you disinherit adult children and other relatives this way. A surviving spouse is different: most states guarantee a spouse a legal share of your estate no matter what the will says.
What It Means to Disinherit Someone
Disinheriting someone means explicitly excluding them from receiving any property or assets from your estate after you pass away. People choose to disinherit a relative for many reasons: a divorce or separation where a former partner should no longer inherit, a child who already received significant gifts during your lifetime, an estranged relationship, or a preference to leave the balance of an estate to charity or other family members instead.
Can You Legally Disinherit Your Children?
Generally, yes. In most states, adult children can be excluded from a will as long as the exclusion is stated explicitly. This matters because of what the law calls a "pretermitted heir," a child accidentally left out of a will. According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, states have pretermitted heir statutes specifically to protect children who were omitted from a will by accident, letting them claim the share they would have received if there were no will at all. Where the will clearly shows an intent to disinherit, these statutes generally do not apply, which is exactly why clear language matters so much. Simply forgetting to mention a child is legally different from deliberately excluding one, and courts treat the two very differently.
Common, legitimate reasons parents choose to exclude a child's descendants as well as the child include:
- The child already received their inheritance in advance while the parent was still living
- A prior marriage ended in divorce, and the parent wants to exclude step-children from that marriage
- The parent wants to leave the estate to charity instead
- The parent has no ongoing relationship with the child
Can You Disinherit a Spouse?
This is where disinheritance runs into its biggest legal limit. In most common law states, a surviving spouse has a right called the elective share. According to Cornell's Legal Information Institute, an elective share, also called a spousal share, statutory share, or forced share, guarantees a surviving spouse a fixed portion of the estate, traditionally around one-third, regardless of what the will says. A disinherited spouse can generally exercise this right against the will. In some states, the process is as simple as filing an election form; in others, it requires a formal legal challenge. In community property states, such as California and Texas, the surviving spouse instead holds an ownership interest in property acquired during the marriage, which functions similarly to prevent a full disinheritance. If you genuinely want to exclude a spouse from a specific asset, a negotiated agreement, such as a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement with a valid waiver, is typically the only reliable way to do it.
How to Disinherit Someone: Step by Step
- Confirm your state allows it. Most states place few or no restrictions on disinheriting parents, siblings, or other relatives, but they do restrict disinheriting a spouse and, in some cases, minor children.
- State your intent explicitly. Name the person you are disinheriting and their relationship to you, and say clearly that you intend to exclude them entirely. You do not have to give a reason, but naming the person removes any ambiguity about whether the omission was intentional.
- Update every relevant document, not just your will. Beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts are governed by the form on file with each institution, not by your will, so a disinheritance in your will does not remove someone as a named beneficiary elsewhere.
- Consider naming a nominal gift instead of silence. Some people leave a token amount, such as one dollar, specifically to demonstrate the omission was intentional rather than an oversight, though explicit disinheritance language accomplishes the same goal without this step.
A Worked Example
Say you have three adult children, and one of them received a significant down payment on a house from you fifteen years ago that the others did not receive. You want your will to reflect that the other two children should get a larger share of what remains. Simply leaving one child out entirely could look accidental to a court, and could invite a pretermitted heir claim. Instead, state directly in your will that you are aware of your child, name them, acknowledge the earlier gift, and explain that this is why their share is reduced or excluded. That explicit language is what separates an intentional decision from something a court might treat as an oversight.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming silence equals disinheritance. Leaving someone out without explanation is exactly the situation pretermitted heir statutes exist to catch.
- Forgetting non-probate assets. A will cannot override a beneficiary designation on a retirement account or life insurance policy.
- Trying to fully disinherit a spouse without a valid waiver. Absent a legitimate prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, most spouses can still claim an elective share or community property interest.
- Not updating the will after a reconciliation or new relationship. If circumstances change, an old disinheritance clause may no longer reflect your actual wishes.
How FastWill Handles Disinheritance
FastWill's online will builder includes specific language options for excluding a beneficiary clearly and by name, reducing the risk that an omission is later read as accidental. If your estate plan also involves a trust, our trust package can help you structure distributions consistently across both documents. If your reason for disinheriting someone involves who takes over a business, see our guide on inheritance of the family business for how succession planning intersects with these same issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I disinherit my spouse completely?
In most states, no. A surviving spouse generally retains an elective share or community property interest regardless of what the will states, absent a valid waiver agreement.
Do I need a reason to disinherit someone?
No. You are not required to explain your reasoning, though stating your intent clearly is what matters for the exclusion to be legally effective.
What happens if I simply leave a child out of my will?
Depending on your state, an omitted child may be able to claim a share under pretermitted heir laws, on the theory that the omission was accidental rather than intended.
Can I disinherit someone from a retirement account or life insurance policy?
Not through your will alone. Those assets pass according to the beneficiary designation on file with the account provider, so update that form directly.
Is a one-dollar gift better than saying nothing?
Explicit disinheritance language naming the person is generally sufficient on its own; a nominal gift is an older practice some people still use for extra clarity.
If you need to update your will to reflect a disinheritance, start with FastWill's online will builder to make sure your intent is stated clearly enough to hold up.
