Omitted or Pretermitted Children Under Wills in Rhode Island
At a glance
| Will and child covered | Omitted afterborn child or specified issue of deceased child; will includes effective codicils (§ 33-6-23). |
|---|---|
| Birth or adoption timing | Child born after execution, during testator's life or posthumously; two descendant-timing routes; latest effective codicil is execution date (§ 33-6-23). |
| Naming and provision test | Testator omits to provide in will for qualifying child or issue (§ 33-6-23). |
| Intentional omission | No share if omission appears intentional and not caused by accident or mistake (§ 33-6-23). |
| Other-parent gifts | No other-parent devise condition stated in § 33-6-23. |
| Outside gifts and advancements | No outside-transfer or advancement condition stated in § 33-6-23. |
| Baseline statutory share | Same portion qualifying child or issue would receive on intestacy (§ 33-6-23). |
| Effect of gifts to existing children | No then-living-child gift pool; omitted issue receive intestate-equivalent share (§§ 33-6-23, 33-6-24). |
| Property source and abatement | Share taken proportionately from devisees and legatees; specific gift or will provision may require different allocation (§ 33-6-24). |
| Trust and nonprobate reach | Express scope is will and effective codicils, with contribution from will gifts (§§ 33-6-23, 33-6-24). |
Requirements one by one
Child, descendant, and timing
Rhode Island's § 33-6-23 covers a child born after will execution, including after the testator's death. It also covers issue of a child who dies after execution and issue born after execution of a child who died before it. The statute treats the latest effective codicil as the execution point when a will has codicils, so the timing comparison can change.
Share and contribution
The qualifying child or issue takes what that person would have received had the testator died intestate. Under § 33-6-24, devisees and legatees ordinarily contribute in proportion to the value of their will gifts. A specific gift or another will provision can require a different apportionment to carry out the testator's intent for the property passing by will.
What trips people up
The exception asks whether the omission was intentional and not caused by accident or mistake. Section 33-6-23 speaks of children born after execution; it does not itself spell out a separate after-adoption test.
Common questions
Does a codicil leave the original will date in place for this rule? Section 33-6-23 uses the execution of the latest codicil effective at death.
Does every will beneficiary contribute an identical amount? No. Section 33-6-24 uses the value each devisee or legatee receives, subject to a different apportionment needed to carry out the will's intent.
Statutes and sources
- R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 33-6-23 and 33-6-24. Verbatim current text, official section URLs, and access dates appear in the source fields above.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
What does Rhode Island law mean for your facts?
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