You know that your children are naturally your beneficiaries and expect to receive assets when you pass away. Estate planning is simply the process of figuring out how you want to divide those assets and making a guiding document to do so.
But imagine that you have a child that you would like not to leave any of your assets to. You also know that this makes it more likely that there’s going to be an estate dispute because they won’t be happy with your decision. You want to know how to do this legally so that it stands. What should you do?
You have to do more than leave them out of the will
The biggest mistake that people make with this is that they simply don’t mention that person in the will at all. They assume that leaving them out means they won’t get anything because no assets are assigned to them.
But this is why many estate disputes happen, especially because that person may believe they were just forgotten. Even if they don’t think that you forgot them, they may be able to challenge the will.
Instead, it’s best to use a disinheritance clause. This does not have to be long or complicated, but it identifies the person by name and says that you are intentionally leaving them nothing. If you’d like to put a reason, you can do so, but it’s not required. But having that clause can help to eliminate estate disputes and shows that you certainly did not forget that person – but made an intentional choice.
The intricacies of an estate plan are very important to its execution, so make sure that you know exactly what steps to take.