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Hello, I would like to get your advice on how to totally disinherit our only son who is 30 years old. We have mainly been extranged from him for the past two years. We raised this boy with every bit of love any parents could give and got him through college and then he moved away and got a great job. Everything was fine until he met this woman from Germany and then he became a different person. She is a paralegal and interpeter for an International Patent Attorney in Northern Virginia. We have met this woman twice and she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with us at all. She did not even take my son's name when they were married last September. She also did not see any reason to apply for citizenship. Since they met and through no fault of either of them I have suffered 4 heart attacks, lung cancer, colan surgery, and sepsis and was in a coma and almost died. During that time my son told my husband he no longer wanted to put up with me. He has called several times since then but each time the calls get more vicious. I never dreamed this child, that I worshiped could speak or treat me this way. They are now expecting a child and he informed us that his wife did not care for us to be around the child until we could behave the way they see fit. To make a long story short, that was the last straw. My husband and I decided to tear up our wills and just leave everything to a charity like Peta. I love animals. I am just wondering how to go about this and make sure that everything is correct and he cannot contest this at all. We want to disinherit our son, the wife, and any children that will come from the marriage. We are not doing this lightly and have given it a great deal of thought. We have no other close family alive and do not even know who to name an executor. I would also like to know if Legal Zoom can do this and make it binding. We live in Virginia. My husband is a retired Postmaster and disabled veteran. I was a legal assistant and teacher until I became sick. I have read what you all say about disinheriting a child and not one of the stories you have listed come close to matching ours. Do not think we ae not sad about this but enough is enough and no longer want any contact what so ever with him or his family. I would appreciate any advice you can give me on this matter. If you need more information I would be glad to furnish that too. Sincerely, XXXXX
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: Virginia Already Tried: We have not tried anything at this point other than shredding our wills.
Thank you for your question. After reading my answer, if you require additional information, press "REPLY" and I will be happy to assist you further.
It's actually quite simple to do. You would name all your other beneficiaries in the Will and then add a paragraph that says something like "I have intentionally failed to provide for my son, _______________." That's it. I've also written it "I have intentioanlly failed to provide for my son __________________, for reasons best known to them."
Does this mean he couldn't later try to contest the Will? No. There's no magic words you can put in a Will that can prevent someone from suing if that's what they're set on doing. However, you can only contest a Will upon certain grounds - that you executed it under fraud/duress, that the Will was not executed properly, or that you were not mentally competent at the time. It's also much more expensive than people realize, to litigate, so between the financial cost and the reality of how hard it is to contest, chances are, he wouldn't.
You can draft a Will using Legal Zoom, yes. Just make sure to carefully follow the instructions, especially when it comes to executing (signing) the Wills.
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