Negative Wills in Oregon

or how to disinherit children

There are many reasons why someone might want disinherit a relative and not for the reasons you are probably thinking.  The most common reason is that one child is much better off financially than other children and doesn’t need the money.  In those cases, assets that have sentimental value to well-off child can be passed to her and the financial assets could be passed to the other children.

The Oregon legislature updated the Probate Law so that individuals can now expressly disinherit family members who would otherwise have inherited your property under the current law.   

ORS 112.015 is amended to read:

(2) A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. If that individual or a member of that class survives the decedent, the share of the decedent’s intestate estate to which that individual or class would have succeeded passes as if that individual or each member of that class had disclaimed that individual’s or member’s intestate share.

This is the first of our series of discussing the modernization of Oregon Probate law.  To find a table to articles describing all of the updates here.