Can I Disclaim My Inheritance?

A person will receive an inheritance when named in a Will or, when a person dies intestate and they are due to inherit in accordance with the list of priorities. A guide as to who will inherit in the event of an intestacy can be found here.

Most people when learning of an inheritance are pleased to readily accept however, there may be instances where a person decides to decline what they have been left. This is most commonly seen where an inheritance will adversely affect their financial position due to their personal taxes or their receipt of benefits, although people may also decline to inherit for their own personal reasons.

Can I disclaim my inheritance?

A person is able to freely disclaim their inheritance and is not required to provide any reason for doing so. A person who disclaims their inheritance is to be treated as if they died immediately before the testator and therefore their share will pass in accordance with any substitution clause within the Will or by the rules of intestacy. It is expected a professionally prepared Will will contain sufficient substitution clauses to determine who shall inherit following a beneficiary disclaiming however it is unlikely a testator would have considered such a possibility arising which may cause ambiguity and require the Court’s determination. This was recently seen in the case of White v Williams [2025] EWHC 115 (Ch).

In this case, the Deceased named the Defendant as a residuary beneficiary and he was due to inherit 1/6 of the residuary estate. The Defendant was the son of the Deceased but had been estranged during his lifetime. On several occasions the Defendant confirmed he disclaimed the inheritance due to him. Following the Defendant disclaiming, the Defendant was to be treated as if he predeceased the Deceased.

The Deceased’s Will contained a substitution being that in the event the Defendant predeceased, his share would pass to the Defendant’s children. The Defendant left no children and therefore the substitution clause failed. There was a further substitution clause in respect of the residuary estate that provided in the event of a residuary share clause failing, that share will accrue to the remaining shares of the residuary estate. In order to determine whether that clause would apply, the Court was required to rule whether or not the Defendant disclaiming his inheritance formed a failure of that clause.

In the event the gift to the Defendant was considered not to have failed, the Defendant’s share would have created a partial intestacy and therefore be distributed in accordance with the Intestacy Rules. The Court considered the potential interpretations of the clause and in doing so considered the law and Deceased’s intentions. The Court held that on the basis the Defendant was to be treated as having predeceased the Deceased, the clause relating to his residuary estate would fail, therefore allowing the further substitution clause to take effect. On the other hand, if the Defendant was not treated as having predeceased, the Court felt the Defendant disclaiming would have resulted in a failure, again allowing that substitution clause to apply.