John Burns - 11/24/2023 12:05

Cutting a sibling completely out of a will is a bad move. Always give them "something" in the will or estate planning.

If it is a significant estate and one kid gets completely cut out it is an invitation for an amublance chasing lawyer to contest it on a percentage basis fee. The kid has nothing to lose (they were getting nothing anyway) since the lawer is doing the work on a percentage of the take. Once the lawyer takes it on it is all or nothing for him. He will dog it out till someone gets fed up enough to get "something". If the estate planning was not done really well with some holes in it that opens up all kinds of cans of worms.

I was not personally involved in such a situation, but had people close to me that were. Went on for many years. Much cost involved for all parties to lawyer up. Had the one kid been given "something" of substance it probably would have just got drunk and drugged up with the newfound money and never the problems encountered. As it were the lawer and it had nothing to lose so they just dragged it out. Something like 5 years or maybe more. I lost track. I suspect (but don't actually know) the multiple lawyers ended up with half the estate. For sure a quarter.