Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania
Inheritance Requsal
Just a simple question...
Is it legal under PA law to conditionally requse yourself from a will. i.e.
I would like to requse myself as long as no part or proceeds of what I was to inherit go to a particular party or organization, Even though they were named elsewhere in the will?
There were four parties named in the will, my bother and myself to receive the house and contents, an organization to receive 65% of all remaining assets and an individual to receive the remaining 35%. I would like to requse myself on the condition that the organization not receives any portion or proceeds from what would be my inheritance.
Normally this would not be a problem except for the fact that my brother will probably requse himself as well and I don�t want the organization named in the will to receive 65% of the house and contents. I don�t care if the person that was to receive the remaining 35% get all the house and contents. I just don�t want it to go to the organization. Is this possible under PA law to put conditions on a requsal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Inheritance Requsal
I believe that by the term "requse" you mean to say that you do not want to receive your inheritance under the will. This is commonly called "disclaim".
A disclaimer allows you only to say "I don't want what was left to me." You cannot rewrite the will of the decedent. Whatever is disclaimed is given as specified in the will, whether it is then divided among the rest of the beneficiaries, or becomes part of the "residuary estate" and goes to the persons named in that provision.
If there is a sufficient estate, why not just accept what was left to you and your brother? That way, you effectively limit the amount that the organization to whom your decedent left the rest of her/his estate to the amount specified, rather than enlarging it by your disclaimed portion.
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