What is a disclaimer and how is it used?
Generally speaking, a disclaimer is when someone gives up their legal right to inherit. In other words, under the law someone is entitled to receive from an estate, but they decide that they don’t want to inherit for some reason or another. In some instances, people don’t want to inherit because it may jeopardize their medicaid benefits. Other times, it makes it simpler to administer an estate.
From time to time, the Probate team at Littlejohn Law will request heirs or beneficiaries to disclaim their inheritance. We do this so that a Title to a vehicle is not issued in 6 people’s names. It is often easier to do this and keep the estate moving forward.
Let’s say that there are 4 children who are supposed to inherit, if 1 disclaims their interest then the remaining 3 would each receive ⅓ of the estate instead of ¼ . We’ve even seen instances where heirs disclaim an interest in a specific asset.
Give us a call so that we can discuss how a disclaimer can impact your inheritance 740-346-2899.