When putting together your estate plan, you should hire an experienced estate litigation attorney to avoid any unintended distributions of your estate. In 2010, the California Court of Appeal held that a general disinheritance clause in a will did not avoid application of the anti-lapse statute of Probate Code section 21110. (Estate of Tolman (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1433).

In this instant case, Ms. Tolman bequeathed her property to her husband and her two granddaughters with the remainder of her will going to her daughter. The gifts were to lapse if the granddaughters failed to survive the her. However, the husband and daughter predeceased Ms. Tolman and the named granddaughters and heirs of the daughter survived. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courts ruling that a general disinheritance clause stating that those heirs not named in the will are disinherited does not avoid anti-lapse. Therefore, the gift to the daughter passed to the daughter's heirs pursuant to California's anti lapse statute.