Legal Definitions - pretermitted spouse

Definition: A pretermitted spouse is a spouse who is not mentioned in a will, even though they were married to the deceased at the time the will was created. This can happen when a person creates a will before getting married or forgets to update their will after getting married.

Example: John creates a will before getting married to Jane. He leaves all his property to his children from a previous marriage. After John dies, Jane realizes that she was not mentioned in the will and is therefore a pretermitted spouse.

Explanation: In this example, Jane is a pretermitted spouse because she was not mentioned in John's will, even though they were married at the time the will was created. This means that Jane may be entitled to a portion of John's estate, depending on the laws of the state where they lived.