Except in limited circumstances, children generally do not have a right to inherit anything (real property or personal property) from their parents. Laws do vary from state to state and in some states, for example, the head of a household may be prohibited from leaving the family homestead to anyone other than a surviving spouse or minor child if such person is alive.

And most states have laws that protect children (and sometimes grandchildren) against accidental inheritance in certain limited circumstances. These laws usually apply when a child is born after a parent’s will is executed, and because the will leaves property to the child’s siblings, it appears that the parent did not intend to disinherit the new child. In this circumstance the child who was not mentioned in the will may be eligible to inherit a portion of the estate like the child’s siblings. Such an omitted child is also known as a pretermitted child or a pretermitted heir.

In states with pretermitted child laws, the laws are usually located in the state’s statutes—often in the estates code or probate code.

In California, the law provides certain protections for children who might be unintentionally omitted from a parent's will, known as pretermitted or omitted children. Under California Probate Code sections 21620-21623, if a child is born to or adopted by a person after that person's will has been made, and the will does not provide for that child, the omitted child may still have a right to inherit. The law presumes that the child was unintentionally omitted unless it can be shown that the omission was intentional, or the child was provided for outside of the will, or the will's disposition of the estate is such that it appears the omission was intentional. This means that the omitted child may be entitled to a share of the estate equivalent to what they would have received if the parent had died without a will (intestate), unless the will explicitly states otherwise. However, if the estate is left entirely to the other parent of the omitted child, then the child may not receive a share. It's important to note that these protections do not grant children a general right to inherit; they are designed to address specific situations where a child may have been accidentally left out of a will.