What do pretermitted heirs statutes protect?

• A. Children and descendants unintentionally omitted from a will
• B. Spouses omitted from a will
• C. Parents omitted from a will
• D. All potential heirs regardless of relationship

Answer: (A)

Pretermitted heirs statutes are about protecting children and their descendants who were unintentionally left out of a will. If a parent executes a will and forgets to mention a child (or the child’s descendants), these laws usually ensure the omitted child receives a share of the estate—often the portion the child would have gotten under intestacy or another statutorily defined amount. The goal is to prevent accidental disinheritance while still honoring the overall plan of the will. These statutes typically don’t cover spouses (unless a separate pretermitted-spouse rule exists) and they don’t automatically protect all possible heirs—only those specifically recognized as pretermitted in the statute. So the correct understanding is that pretermitted heirs statutes protect children and their descendants unintentionally omitted from a will.