The Pacella Law Group

It is safe to say that most people in Los Angeles would like to pass on from this life with as few regrets as possible. Among the most important things in many people’s lives is family. When there is a rift between family members, often it is hoped that the feud can be put aside and the relatives can once again be part of each other’s lives.

But sometimes those broken bonds go unhealed in people’s lifetime, even between a parent and child. A will often reflects this severing of a familial relationship. The testator can specify that a child will inherit nothing from the parent’s estate, if he or she chooses to do so.

That is what the hairstylist and hair care products mogul Vidal Sassoon did in his will before passing away in May 2012. Sassoon, who was living in Los Angeles when he died, had three who survived him, including a son who he and his then-wife adopted in 1975. In his 2010 memoirs, Sassoon described his son as charming but troubled and wrote that he sent the son to reform school at one point.

Later in life, the two suffered a rift. At the time he was writing the book, Sassoon wrote, the two had not seen each other for 18 months. That rift apparently never was mended, and Vidal Sassoon specified in his will that the son, now 41, would receive nothing of his estate, estimated at $150 million. A clause in the will said that the son was disinherited and was considered to have predeceased Sassoon for the purposes of the will.

Source: UPI, “Vidal Sassoon disinherits adopted son from $150 million fortune,” Kate Stanton, March 25, 2013