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 Georgia, 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, Georgia's intestacy laws dictate that the children are among the first in line to inherit, along with 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. Georgia law does provide protections for pretermitted children, or children who are unintentionally omitted from a will. Under Georgia Code § 53-4-48, if a child is born or adopted after the execution of the will and the will does not provide for that child, the child may still be entitled to a share of the estate as if the parent 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 that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision.