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 Kentucky, as in many states, children do not have an automatic right to inherit from their parents, except under certain circumstances. Kentucky law does provide protections for children who may have been unintentionally omitted from a will. According to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) Section 394.092, if a child is born or adopted after the execution of a will and the will does not provide for that child, nor show an intention to disinherit the child, then the child may have a right to a share of the estate. This share is typically the portion they would have received if the parent had died intestate (without a will). This statute is designed to ensure that children who are inadvertently left out of a will, known as pretermitted children, are not unfairly disinherited. However, if the will explicitly disinherits a child or it is clear that the omission was intentional, the child may not have a right to inherit. Additionally, Kentucky does not have a law that specifically prohibits a head of household from leaving the family homestead to anyone other than a surviving spouse or minor child.