Should you disinherit someone with a minimal inheritance?

If you’re interested in disinheriting someone, you may read that there are a few different ways to do it. One solution that people sometimes offer is to leave someone a minimal inheritance. For instance, rather than cutting someone out of your will entirely, you could just leave them $10.

The reason to do this is simply so that they know it’s intentional. If you simply leave them out of your estate plan, they could potentially challenge your will. They may say that it was an oversight or a mistake. They may claim you forgot to include them, but they’re sure that you wanted to. They could also claim that someone else altered the will and took out their inheritance. 

By leaving them $10, you demonstrate that this is what you wanted, and it reduces the odds of a will contest.

You can simply identify them by name

You can do this if you want, but it’s unnecessary. Instead of leaving someone a minimal inheritance, which they may find insulting, it’s usually better just to identify them by name and include a clause that specifically states that you do not intend to leave this person anything at all. That will be enough to make it clear that you didn’t merely forget them.

If you want, you can tell the person why you’re disinheriting them. But this also is not necessary. Legally speaking, you have the right to disinherit anyone you want for any reason except for your minor children or your spouse. 

Creating your estate plan

As you can see, some of the ideas that people have about estate planning may be slightly off the mark. Beware of accepting advice from others and instead take the time to carefully look into all of your legal options so that you know what will work best for you and your family.