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 New Hampshire, children do not have an automatic right to inherit from their parents, except under certain circumstances. New Hampshire law, specifically under RSA 551:10 and RSA 551:11, provides for the rights of pretermitted children. A pretermitted child is one who is born or adopted after the execution of a parent's will and is not mentioned in the will, possibly due to the parent's unawareness of the child at the time the will was made. Under these statutes, if a child is omitted from a will that provides for other children of the testator, the omitted child may be entitled to a share of the estate equivalent to what they would have received if the testator had died intestate (without a will), unless it appears that the omission was intentional or the child was provided for outside of the will. However, if the will gives all the estate to the other parent of the omitted child, the child may not receive a share. It's important to note that these protections do not apply if the will explicitly disinherits the child or if the omission is clearly intentional.