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 Virginia, children do not have an automatic right to inherit from their parents, except under certain circumstances. Virginia law does include provisions to protect children who may have been unintentionally omitted from a will. These are known as pretermitted heir statutes. Under Virginia Code § 64.2-304, if a testator fails to provide for any of their children born or adopted after the execution of the will, the omitted child may have a right to a share of the estate as if the testator had died intestate (without a will), unless it appears from the will that the omission was intentional, or the testator provided for the child by transfer outside the will with the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision. This protection ensures that children who are inadvertently left out of a will, particularly those born or adopted after the will was made, receive an inheritance similar to what their siblings might receive. However, if the parent's will explicitly disinherits a child, or it is clear that the omission was intentional, the child may not have a right to inherit.