Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: Disinherit adult child

Actually, the wording to disinherit someone in your will is not specific in Virginia. Nor do you have to give a reason as to why you want to disinherit that particular person.

The main thing is that you do not want anyone to think that you left that person out by mistake. The most common example you see is the one of disinheriting a child. What you would want to do in that case is to mention all the children's names in the beginning of the will. And then you would simply leave that one particular child out of the bequest.

To make things even more clear, I advise people to give a small sum of money to that one child. You could say, for example: "To my son, John D. Smith, I give ten dollars ($10.00)." That way, you give that person a small token sum of money and no one can argue later that you forget to mention that person in the will.

Contact an estate planning attorney for more information about this.