If the purpose of changing your will is primarily to send a message—“You abandoned me, so you get nothing”—it may be worth asking whether that message is one you truly want to leave behind.
What If the Child Has Stopped Speaking to You?
A child refusing contact does not necessarily mean the parent has no options.
There is a difference between estrangement and serious misconduct.
A child may have stopped speaking to a parent because of unresolved family disagreements. Another child may have engaged in theft, fraud, abuse, manipulation, or other serious conduct.
The law may treat such circumstances differently depending on the jurisdiction.
However, parents should not assume that simply documenting their anger in a will will make a disinheritance legally unquestionable.
A will can be challenged in some circumstances, and disputes can arise over whether the deceased person understood what they were signing, whether they were pressured, whether the document was properly executed, or whether other inheritance rights apply.
