An inheritance can provide reminders of a person who has passed. These reminders can provide comfort. Yet, sometimes, reviewing a will or other estate planning documents can worsen the pain caused by a loved one’s passing.
Spouses who spent decades in a marriage sometimes discover that their lifelong partner disinherited them, either by choosing to omit their name from estate planning documents or by explicitly stating the intent to prevent them from inheriting. A surviving spouse may sometimes need to take legal action to address questionable attempts to eliminate them as a beneficiary of an estate.
Can spouses disinherit one another in California?
Total disinheritance may violate community property laws
One spouse can theoretically limit what the other inherits. Individuals have control over the distribution of their assets when they draft wills and other estate planning documents.
Married people cannot fully exclude their spouses as beneficiaries. Married individuals can leave their separate property to people other than their spouses. However, marital or community property is another matter.
The deceased spouse can arrange for another person or even a charitable cause to inherit their portion of the community property or marital estate. The remaining 50% is the property of the surviving spouse. In cases where estate planning documents attempt to allocate all resources, including marital property, to other beneficiaries, disinherited spouses may need to initiate probate litigation.
Reviewing documents themselves and one’s marital estate with a skilled legal team can help people understand their options in this frustrating and challenging situation. The support and insight of an attorney can help spouses respond effectively by pursuing probate litigation to assert their rights to community property.