Legal Definitions - pretermission

Definition: Pretermission refers to the act of omitting an heir from a will or the condition of one who is pretermitted, as an heir of a testator.

Example 1: John wrote a will leaving all his property to his children. However, he forgot to include his youngest child, Sarah, in the will. This means that Sarah has been pretermitted or excluded from the will.

Example 2: Mary wrote a will leaving her property to her husband and children. However, she did not have any children at the time of writing the will. This means that her future children have been pretermitted or omitted from the will.

These examples illustrate how pretermission can occur when a testator forgets to include an heir in their will or when they do not anticipate the birth of future children. In such cases, the omitted heirs may have legal recourse to claim their rightful share of the estate.