Omitting adult son and leaving it to grand-kids instead

In Florida, you have not obligation to leave anything to your adult children in your will or trust. Stated another way, you can disinherit your adult children in Florida.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Mark from Eustace. Mark, go head.

Mark: I had a question. I've recently moved down from Michigan to Florida.

Attorney Tom Olsen: All right.

Mark: And I have just one son. So an only child. The question I have is I want to get a will done and I want to 100% exclude my child, but include my two grandchildren in the form of some type of trust or something.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Okay.

Mark: That they could receive and didn't know if there's special wording that has to be put in so he could not file a claim or what is the best way to approach that?

Attorney Tom Olsen: How old are your grandchildren, Mark?

Mark: My grandson is six and my granddaughter is three.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Okay, so Mark, first of all, that definitely puts you in the category of having a living trust, so you can go ahead and set up these trusts for the benefit of your grandchildren while you're alive. Mark, whether you're doing a will, or a living trust remember that here in the state of Florida you have no legal obligation to leave anything to your adult children. If I were to do a will or trust for you Mark, I would simply have a line in there says, "I have purposely omitted my son, let's call him Bill for my own reasons."

What we don't want is for your son to challenge your will and saying, "Hey, Dad forgot he had a son that's why I'm not in there." That's why we want specific language in there where you are excluding and omitting your son and Mark, if you have that will or trust done by an attorney, witnessed by the attorney. Then it's going to be rock-solid.