Special Statutes For Spouses & Children

Preference for Surviving Spouses and Minor Children

If the estate does not exceed $100,000 in value after certain deduction, the surviving spouse and/or minor children have preference over others including creditors and people named in a will. See N.R.S. 146.070(16) which says, "For the purposes of this section, the value of property must be the fair market value of that property, reduced by the value of all enforceable liens and encumbrances. Property values and the values of liens and encumbrances must be determined as of the date of the decedent’s death." In addition, NRS 146.010 says that minor children and spouses are entitled to remain in the homestead and entitled to a reasonable allowance in the case of larger estates. 

Child not mentioned in Will:

If a child is born after a Will is made the child shall inherit what would be his or her share if the person had died without a will unless it is apparent from the will that any afterborn children will not inherit or unless it appears that the Will writer made other provisions for the child outside of the Will. See N.R.S. 133.160 and N.R.S. 133.190.

But if a will is written and no provision is made for a child who is already born, the court presumes that the omission was intention. See N.R.S. 133.170. However, a presumption can challenged with contrary evidence in court. That is why if the intention is to give nothing upon death to Child C, the will often states, "I have intentionally omitted to provide for Child C," or "I have intentionally omitted to provide for any of my children."

Suppose a parent writes in a will, "I have intentionally omitted to provide for Child C." Then later, the parent reconciles with Child C and scratches out that clause or whites out the clause. Other heirs will probably successfully argue that the white out or scratch out fails to meet the requirements of a holographic will or will amendment, see Probate Words and Terms In addition, the other heirs will argue that under N.R.S. 133.170 since Child C wasn't included in the original will, Child C does not inherit. As you can see from this example, if someone wants to change a will it makes sense to have an entirely new will done, or a proper amendment to the will done because an ineffective change could fail to carry out the wishes of the will write and could create additional strife and bad feelings between the heirs.