In Florida, and many other states, there are protections written into the probate code which purport to protect children from unintentional disinheritance by one or both of their parents. Florida’s pretermitted child statute is codified at Fla. Stat. §732.302 and is intended avoid an unintentional or inadvertent disinheritance of a child. Florida’s statute is modeled in part after the position adopted by the Restatement of Property and the Uniform Probate Code.

The Restatement of Property provides:

§ 9.6 Protection Of Child Or Descendant Against Unintentional Disinheritance

(a) A child of the testator, or under some statutes a descendant of the testator, who was not provided for in the testator’s will may be entitled to a specified share of the testator’s estate as provided by statute. Most of the statutes, including the Original and Revised Uniform Probate Code, only protect a child who was born or adopted after the will was executed.

(b) A child of the testator who was not provided for in the testator’s will because the testator thought that the child was dead may be entitled to a specified share of the testator’s estate as provided by statute.

(c) The omitted child or descendant is entitled to the specified share unless a contrary intent or other statutory exception is established. (more…)

Evidence Must Be Compelling to Disinherit

What is a Pretermitted Child?

A pretermitted heir describes a person who would likely stand to inherit under a Last Will and Testament, except that the person who wrote the Will did not know or did not know of the child at the time the Will was written. Many jurisdictions have enacted statutes that allow a pretermitted child to demand an inheritance under the Will

Florida’s probate code provides when a testator omits to provide by Will for any of his or her children born after making the Will and the child has not received a part of the testator’s property equivalent to a child’s part by way of advancement, the child shall receive a share of the estate equal in value to that which the child would have received if the testator had died intestate, unless it appears from the Will that the omission was intentional, or the testator had one or more children when the Will was executed and devised substantially all of his or her estate to the other parent of the pretermitted child and that other parent survived the testator and is entitled to take under the Will. Fla.Stat. §732.302. (more…)