You’ve made the difficult decision that you’re going to have to disinherit one of your heirs. Maybe you and this person are no longer on speaking terms and you’ve had a falling out. Maybe they’re struggling with addictions or money management issues that mean you don’t want to leave them an inheritance.
Whatever the reason, you’ve decided that this is what you want to do. The problem is that you’re just not sure how to remove them from your estate plan. What steps do you need to take?
Here are three different options:
Simply remove them
The first option, of course, is to just take them out of the estate plan you already made. If you haven’t created one yet, you can make it in a way that leaves all of your assets to the other heirs. Only the people named in your estate plan are going to inherit, so this person is left out.
Leave them a small inheritance
A third option, although not as commonly used, is just to leave the person a very small inheritance. This could demonstrate that you didn’t forget about them, but you still don’t have to leave them substantial assets.
Using a disinheritance clause
The problem with doing the above is that they may think you just forgot about them and challenge the will. So it can be more useful to include a disinheritance clause. This just spells out your wishes, and it says who is going to be disinherited. It eliminates the idea that it could’ve been a mistake or an oversight.
To make sure that your assets get transferred smoothly to your heirs, you may need to know what legal steps to take.
