Daily AncestorPretermitted heir
A pretermitted heir is a child left out of a parent's will, usually one born after it was made, who may still get the share the law would give without a will.
Under the old common law, leaving a child out of a will was taken as deliberate. States then passed pretermitted heir statutes to protect children omitted by accident, giving them the share they would have taken if the parent had died without a will.
Some states protected only children born after the will was signed; others covered all children. If the will shows an intent to disinherit, the statute does not apply. A child who appears in the estate settlement but not in the will may be a pretermitted heir.
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Daily Ancestor. "Pretermitted heir." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land/pretermitted-heir. Last checked 2026-10-12.