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 Rhode Island, 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, Rhode Island's intestacy laws dictate how the deceased's assets are distributed, and these laws typically provide for a share to the surviving children. However, if a parent has a valid will, they can generally distribute their property as they see fit, potentially disinheriting a child. Rhode Island does have provisions to protect certain children who might be unintentionally omitted from a will, known as pretermitted heirs. Under Rhode Island law, if a child is born or adopted after a will is made 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. This is to ensure that children who were unintentionally omitted from a will are not completely disinherited. These protections do not apply if it can be shown that the omission was intentional or if the child received an equivalent portion of the parent's estate outside of the will.