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 Montana, as in many states, children do not have an automatic right to inherit from their parents unless the parent dies without a will (intestate). When a parent dies intestate, Montana's laws of intestate succession come into play, which typically provide for the deceased's children to inherit a portion of the estate. However, if a parent has a will, they can generally distribute their property as they see fit, potentially disinheriting a child. Montana does have laws to protect children who may have been unintentionally omitted from a will, known as pretermitted heir statutes. Under Montana Code Annotated § 72-2-235, if a child is born or adopted after the execution of a will and the will does not provide for that child, the omitted child may still be entitled to a share of the estate as if the decedent had died intestate, unless it appears from the will that the omission was intentional or the child was provided for outside of the will with the intent to be in lieu of a testamentary provision.