Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

The father should not leave the child $1.00. A parent is not obligated to leave anything at all to any of his children. If he wishes to disinherit one or more of them, I recommend adding the following clause to his will:

"I have intentionally and with full knowledge have chosen to disinherit my child/children X, not out of lack of love and affection, but for my own personal reasons."

Your father does not have to use this verbatim. And he should consult with an attorney to ensure this is done correctly. You can also leave them a small amount of money (not a dollar) and add what is called an "in terrorem" clause. The clause says that if the person challenges the estate, then they get nothing. The problem is that courts will not enforce it IF the challenger had a very good reason for challenging the estate. But the challenger has to be left enough money for this to work. I just do not use these in my practice regularly and prefer to use the above phrase regarding complete disinheritance.

Your second question is can the will be challenged? The answer is yes. However, it cannot be challenged "just because." A person seeking to challenge a will must have grounds for doing so. Some recognized grounds are: lack of mental capacity, fraud, or undue influence by the person who benefitted from the will. This invariably requires the challenger to get information from the decedent's doctors, friends and neighbors. If they will testify that the deceased knew what he was doing, a challenge is not likely to go anywhere. You also have to considier how much of the assets are at stake and whether there is enough there to make it worthwhile for a person to challenge the will. Realize that litigation is expensive. Does the challenger have money to proceed? Finally, even if the person challenges, will they benefit? If they challenge and the will is tossed out, are they among the people who would inherit under the intestacy laws? In your example, a child would be the one challenging, so they would benefit under the intestacy law.