1. The act by which an owner of an estate deprives a would-be heir of the expectancy to inherit the estate. • A testator may expressly exclude or limit the right of a person or a class to inherit property that the person or class would have inherited through intestate succession, but only if the testator devises all the property to another. [Cases: Descent and Distribution 47(2). C.J.S. Descent and Distribution § 53.]
2. The state of being disinherited. See forced heir under HEIR.
— Also termed disherison; disinherison; deherison. — disinherit, vb.
negative disinheritance. The act by which a testator attempts to exclude a person from inheritance without disposing of the property to another. • Negative disinheritance is ineffective at common law, although today it may be permitted by statute.
