Simply put, to disinherit someone from your will means to remove the entity in question from your last choice. We are saying here, in essence, that, before you can disinherit someone in your will, the entity must have been on that list first and foremost. And maybe due to one or two factors, you have no option but to exclude the person from your last will.
Typically, when you disinherit someone from the last will, they will be excluded from receiving any inheritance of yours after you might have passed away. However, speaking from experience, disinheritance often at times can cause family tension, sibling conflict, hurt the feelings of the people you love, and, most importantly, disrupt their grieving process. You can liken this to a billionaire who just died, and on his Last Will, he failed to leave any inheritance for his kids and family; instead, every single one of his properties was awarded to his new wife or a random person with little or no affliction to that family. You can’t begin to imagine how ugly that situation can turn.
However, as complicated as this sounds, disinheriting someone from your will is in no way complex, provided you do it the right way. One common mistake people often make while trying to disinherit someone is that they don’t think about the consequences of their decisions. You have to remember that many people will remember you for what you did while you were alive, including how you set your will before you passed away. This simple fact is that even after you are gone, many problems can be avoided if you know the right way to go about the whole disinheriting process.
And for this reason is why this article is specifically for you because any action you take regarding your last will can either break or furthermore strengthen the bond that exists in your family or friends. So without further delay, buckle up and read to the end!
Who Can You Disinherit?
As odd as this question looks, it is one that we need to answer before we proceed further in this piece. Whom you can disinherit will be determined by your jurisdiction or location. Usually, there are restrictions for disinheriting spouses and children, but in the case of parents and extended relatives, there are no restrictions.
- You can’t disinherit your spouse unless they agreed to it in the Prenuptial Agreement before you married. You can’t legally disinherit your partner if you didn’t state this in your prenup agreement.
- You can legally disinherit your children. However, this is only applicable to older children. Minor children, on the other hand, are protected by law. Hence you can’t disinherit them in your Last Will. However, as stated before, your jurisdiction will play a big part in which your children can be disinherited. In some jurisdictions, if not included in the will, adult children can legally contest their parent’s Will.
- You can also disinherit your parents because, under the law, the parents are not entitled to any of their kid’s property/estate. So, if you are an adult with no children and you’ve outlived your parents, you can legally disinherit your parents from receiving anything from your estate.
- What about your extended relatives? Can you legally disinherit them? The answer to this is a big and resounding yes. In no way are you even obliged to have them in your will. It is your estate for a reason.
What are the Reasons for Disinheritance?
Now that you know whom you can disinherit from your final will, you need to know the answers to the WHY question. Previous beneficiaries from a choice can be removed because of various reasons, which include:
- If you don’t have any healthy relationship with the beneficiary or heir. Also, if you’ve lost contact with the heir, such a person can be disinherited
- If you have previously provided financial support to your beneficiary.
- Also, if you don’t trust how responsible the beneficiary is with your property. You know, that thought that they would squander it.
- This might sound unbelievable, but there have been cases where estate owners in their last will “mistakenly” disinherit a beneficiary.
- If the beneficiary in question hasn’t cared for you in the past. Talk about payback
- An entity can also be disinherited when its behavior and attitude don’t satisfy the estate owner.
How to Disinherit Someone in Your Will
Maybe due to some of the reasons we listed above, if you want to disinherit someone from your will, you are at the right place for proper guidance.
- Disinheriting a Spouse: Disinheriting a spouse is not that hard, but then again, it is sometimes complicated because, to disinherit your spouse legally, you must have included that in your prenuptial agreement before you got married. You can legally disinherit your partner if you have had that agreement in your prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. However, this is not applicable in every jurisdiction. For example, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Washington DC, etc. Marital law states that all the assets bought “during” your marriage to your partner will be shared equally after you pass or breakup.
- Disinheriting Adult and Minor children: Irrespective of the state or jurisdiction, you can’t legally disinherit minors as the law protects them. This means that, until they become adults, they will still be living off your estate money. However, the best way to disinherit adult children is to be intentional about it in your last will documents. We’ve seen cases where estate owners, in their previous Will purposely misspell their adult child’s names with the hope that that that would automatically disqualify them from receiving anything from your estate. But this rarely works, as the judge will assume it was unintentional and then award an equal share to the adult child not named.
- Disinheriting parents: If you have no kids or spouse and don’t want your parents to be entitled to your estate, you can disinherit them by adding other heirs as your beneficiaries. Again, the law won’t read your thoughts; you have to be intentional about it.
- How to disinherit your extended relatives: By default, your relatives are not in no way entitled to your property. But as we all know it, Life is concise and unpredictable; therefore if you don’t have a spouse, kids, or even parents, then the law may consider your closest relatives as your next of kin. You have to remember that literally any one of your relatives can contest the will when you die, and often that time, those attempts are not always successful. However, you can reduce the chance of your distant relatives contesting your will after you are gone simply by leaving them a small gift. By doing this, you have prevented a long, sometimes dirty legal battle after you’re gone.
And lastly, if you still find any of these confusing, don’t hesitate to contact any professional law firm around you for proper guidance. If you are a British Columbia resident and need proper guidance on reviewing and updating your last Will, don’t hesitate to contact Saanichton Law Group for professional advice.
