To begin making your estate plan, you know that you want to disinherit one of your adult children. Maybe the two of you are estranged and have not seen each other in decades, or perhaps it is for a more practical reason, such as the fact that that child is very well off financially and does not need an inheritance.
You may have seen a piece of common advice, which is to give someone a minimal inheritance. To cut them out of the will, for example, it may be recommended to leave them just one dollar. Do you actually have to do this, and why would someone choose to leave such a small inheritance?
Identifying them by name
No, you do not have to leave someone a small inheritance to cut them out of your will. Instead, you can just identify them by name. You can make it clear that they are not supposed to receive any of the assets from your estate. A few lines in your estate plan may be all that you need.
The reason why people will leave a minimal inheritance is to make it clear that this is something they did on purpose. If you just omitted that child from the estate plan entirely, it could lead to an estate dispute. They may claim that it was a mistake, an oversight or simply a situation where you forgot to include them.
By leaving them a minimal inheritance, you demonstrate that this is what you intended. But you can also do so simply by identifying them by name, without leaving them anything.
Drafting your estate plan
Disinheriting a beneficiary is a big step to take, and it can lead to potential conflicts. That is why it is so important to know exactly what legal options you have when setting up your estate plan.
