Palm Beach Probate Litigation: What are Pretermitted Children?

Have you read the term “pretermitted children” in a Florida will? What is a pretermitted heir? When do pretermitted children inherit? What should Florida probate lawyers know about pretermitted children and your Florida probate matter? You may want to read Florida Statute 732.302.

Suppose you make a will with a Delray Beach probate attorney at the age of 40 and leave everything to your two kids that you had with your ex-wife. You put the will in a safety deposit box and pretty much forget about it. At the age of 45 you remarry. Your new wife and you never make a new will. Now you have kids with that wife, as well, and one day you die. The safety deposit box is opened to find a will that does not address your new wife or kids. Those kids and your new wife are pretermitted heirs specifically a pretermitted spouse and pretermitted children.  What if that same decedent would have created a new will after he got remarried and had children with his second spouse? Would his kids still be deemed pretermitted children if their dad intentionally left them out of his will?

732.302 Pretermitted children.—

When a testator omits to provide by will for any of his or her children born or adopted after making the will and the child has not received a part of the testator’s property equivalent to a child’s part by way of advancement, the child shall receive a share of the estate equal in value to that which the child would have received if the testator had died intestate, unless:

The share of the estate that is assigned to the pretermitted child shall be obtained in accordance with s. 733.805.