Disinheriting someone is not something that most people want to do. Unfortunately, it does happen more often than I would like to admit. We have had clients over the years come in and try and figure out why they didn’t get anything from their parents (or favorite Uncle, brother, etc.). We go through the documents and determine that they were disinherited. Many times we can even determine that this disinheritance was not intended.
One way that people get disinherited is through the failure of someone to update a will. Instead of creating a document that is static (that is, doesn’t change), you can create a will that updates along with life issues (such as leaving your assets to “your nieces and nephews, if any” instead of just naming people). Further, you can create several items of specific gifts if you want to, including conditions on those gifts.