Disinheritance often results in years of intrapersonal conflict, shame, guilt, worthlessness, overcompensation and decompression. Sometimes it leads to an emptiness that leads to dependency and chronic alcohol disease. Sometimes it may lead to rebirth and freedom. I think the latter is less often the case.
Recently, two articles appeared in the New York Times, and both address the kinds of family conflicts in 2023 that the Wills family experienced between 1900 through 1936: disinheritance and chronic alcoholic disease. Both issues vibrate throughout the Wills family history and heavily influenced the outcomes of this Cornish American immigrant family.
There is a link to the first article which may appear behind a paywall:
The Devastation of Disinheritance My father’s decision to cut me out of his will shocked me. Could the damage ever be repaired? published December 11, 2023, and written by Mary Beth Caschetta.
Caschetta writes about her father’s last will and testament which entirely removed her and not her two brothers, from an inheritance. When she was confronted with the knowledge that her father disinherited her, she was depressed, morose, and in her words, she felt “excluded, wounded and weepy.” Afterwards, she sought therapy and realized that for individuals who experienced disinheritance, very few resources exist in our society. The act of disinheritance can leave surviving children confused and angry with feelings of isolation, shame and abandonment. It is the ultimate rejection of the child by the parent regardless of their age and status. The message from the deceased parent to the child is clear: “you failed to meet my expectations.”
For the child, resolution for overwhelming abandonment and shame may never occur. If Caschetta believes there are few resources to assist children to resolve abandonment and shame now, 2023-2024, imagine what it was like in 1914 when John Albert Berriman Wills wrote his two sons out of his will. He did exactly that by writing that his sons, William Henry and John Albert, each received one dollar and nothing more. His three daughters and one granddaughter received all his earthly accumulations.
“To my son William Henry Wills of the town of ____ in the county of Washington and state of New York I give the sum of one dollar. To my son John Albert Wills of the town of Schuylerville in the county of Saratoga and state of New York the sum of one dollar.”
I strongly suspect that this disinheritance set in motion a downward trajectory for both sons and their families.
