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Hello, I'm Mike Hackard. I lead Hackard Law, a law firm that focuses on significant estate, trust and elder financial abuse litigation in California. I'm the author of the new book Alzheimer's, Widowed Stepmothers & Estate Crimes, now available on Amazon.
This week, let's address disinheritance - no doubt a difficult and complex subject to jump into. As an estate litigation attorney, I've found that getting resolution to disinheritance disputes is frequently messy, drawn-out and never guaranteed to be successful - sort of like trying to climb up a steep, muddy hill during a rainstorm.
The truth is, when someone disinherits you, for reasons good or bad, the chances of gaining a "full" share of an estate or trust are usually low. Let's take a quick look at the most common reasons why people get disinherited:
- Their parents didn't like them.
- They lost touch with their parent and didn't contact them for several years.
- Their parent had a favorite child and decided to give everything to them.
- A sibling said awful things about them (whether true or false), which caused the parent to disinherit.
- They were irresponsible with money and squandered a fortune earlier in life, and the parent made a rational decision not to throw good estate money after bad.
If disinheritance results from one of the factors I just mentioned, it's more often than not unlikely that litigation can do much. Inheritance laws are designed to allow people a precise choice over who gets what assets in their estate.
That said, there are always extenuating circumstances. Human relationships are never just black and white. Factors like undue influence, elder financial abuse, and conditions of cognitive decline like Alzheimer's and dementia can and do call into question the legal standing of a disinheritance.
If you would like a free digital copy of Alzheimer's, Widowed Stepmothers & Estate Crimes, email us at hackard@hackardlaw.com. I'm happy to share this book on a very important topic.
