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 Tennessee, as in many states, children do not have an automatic right to inherit from their parents unless the parent dies without a will (intestate). If a parent dies intestate, Tennessee's intestate succession laws dictate that children may inherit a portion of the estate, subject to the share of a surviving spouse. However, if a parent leaves a will, they generally have the right to distribute their property as they see fit, which can include disinheriting a child. Tennessee does have laws to protect children who may have been unintentionally omitted from a will, known as pretermitted heir statutes. Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 32-3-105, 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 have a right 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 is otherwise provided for.