Will "I hereby exclude all others"

[marto65]

I've obtained a number of wills in my family tree hunt. They are all for family in Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

One important one lists all the children as beneficiaries except for the eldest child. At the end the parent says "I hereby exclude all others not mentioned in above will from any share or part of my estate". Now, I know that the eldest child had a falling out with the rest of the family and that can explain why they weren't mentioned as a beneficiary. However, I was wondering whether the exclusion is a specific reference to this too? Was the parent trying to make sure the child couldn't make a claim afterwards?

I haven't seen such a phrase in the other wills I have and wondered whether the phrase is unusual? All the wills I have date from late 1800s/early 1900s except for this one which was 1940, so perhaps it was a legal development that such a phrase started being used?

Any thoughts welcome.

[aghadowey]

Not really that strange- just a way to make sure that child or their heirs not being able to make a claim to the estate.

[behindthefrogs]

This was one of a number of devices adopted to make sure that someone deliberately omitted from a will could not claim that they had accidentally been forgotten.   The other device was to specifically mention them and leave them a very small amount often one shilling.

Deliberate omissions were not always due to a falling out but sometimes resulted from particularly an elder son having already been given the family business or a major property.

[marto65]

Thanks for your prompt replies, aghadowey and behindthefrogs.

The shilling device is interesting, as it appears in other wills and I hadn't realised that was the reason for it.