Most people assume disinheriting a child is simple. Write them out of the Will, leave everything to someone else, and the decision is final. Under English law, that assumption is only half right, and the half that’s wrong catches people out more often than you’d expect.
Testamentary Freedom: The Starting Point
England and Wales operate on what’s called testamentary freedom, the principle that you can leave your estate to whoever you choose. Unlike Scotland, where children have an automatic legal right to a share of a parent’s estate, and unlike many European countries with similar forced-heirship rules, there’s no requirement here to leave anything to your children at all. In principle, you can write a will that leaves your entire estate to a friend, a charity, or a complete stranger, and nothing in the drafting itself stops you.
The Catch: The Inheritance Act 1975
The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 is where the theory starts to matter less than the practice. It lets certain people apply to the court for reasonable financial provision from an estate if they believe the Will, or the rules of intestacy, hasn’t provided for them adequately. That list includes a spouse or civil partner, a former spouse who hasn’t remarried, children of any age including adult children, anyone treated as a child of the family such as a stepchild, and someone the deceased was financially maintaining before death. A claim normally has to be brought within six months of the grant of probate.
What the Court Actually Looks At
A claim under the 1975 Act doesn’t automatically succeed just because someone was left out. The court weighs up the size of the estate, the claimant’s financial needs and resources, and any obligations the deceased had toward them, alongside whether there’s a moral element to the case, sometimes described as whether the deceased owed the claimant something beyond strict legal duty. For an adult child who’s financially independent, that last point tends to carry real weight, since the court has to decide not just whether provision would be nice, but whether its absence was actually unreasonable.
When Adult Children Have Won, and When They Haven’t
The most cited case is Ilott v The Blue Cross, which reached the Supreme Court in 2017. Mrs Jackson left her entire estate, worth around £486,000, to three animal charities she had little connection to, and specifically excluded her daughter, from whom she’d been estranged for 26 years. The daughter’s initial award was £50,000. The Court of Appeal later increased it to £143,000, but the Supreme Court restored the original £50,000, making clear that estrangement and the deceased’s own clearly expressed wishes still carry real weight, even when a claim technically succeeds.
A more recent case shows a different outcome. In McDaniel v Talbot, decided by the High Court in 2026, an adult daughter successfully claimed against her father’s estate after the court found that her caring contributions to her father, her grandmother, and her own children amounted to special circumstances the Will hadn’t accounted for. The result in each case turned on the specific facts, which is really the point. There’s no fixed formula, and outcomes for adult children vary far more than most people assume going in.
Reducing the Risk If You Do Want to Exclude Someone
If you’re set on leaving a child out of your Will, a letter of wishes kept alongside it, explaining your reasoning in your own words, carries real weight with a court even though it isn’t legally binding on its own. It won’t stop a claim being made, but it gives a judge a clearer picture of your intentions than the Will alone ever could. Partial provision is also worth considering rather than a complete exclusion, since a modest gift can sometimes do more to prevent a dispute than leaving nothing at all. Minor children and anyone you were financially supporting before your death carry the strongest claims of anyone on the list, so those situations deserve particular care.
The honest answer to the question in the title is that you can try, and the law will let you, right up until someone with a valid claim decides to test it. Getting the drafting and the reasoning right from the outset is what actually determines whether your wishes hold up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my children contest my Will if I leave them out completely?
They can apply to the court under the Inheritance Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision, whether they’re a minor or an adult. Applying doesn’t guarantee success, but the option exists regardless of what the will says.
How long do they have to make a claim?
Normally six months from the date probate is granted, though the court has discretion to allow claims outside that window in limited circumstances.
Does a letter of wishes stop a claim from being made?
No, but it can influence the outcome. Courts give real weight to a clearly explained letter of wishes, even though it isn’t legally binding in the same way the Will itself is.
Are stepchildren covered by the Inheritance Act 1975?
Yes, if they were treated as a child of the family. That status doesn’t depend on a formal adoption, but the court will look closely at the nature of the relationship.
For confidential advice on Wills, disinheritance, and reducing the risk of a claim, please get in touch:
01277 562 567 | ian.nicholson@bwep.uk | www.bwep.uk