The outspoken wrestler attends a news conference in 2014. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

When professional wrestler and former reality TV star Hulk Hogan died on July 24, 2025, he left behind a grieving widow, two ex-wives, two children, two grandchildren he reportedly never met and a US$25 million fortune. He was 71 years old and died after having a heart attack.

News quickly broke that his daughter, entertainer Brooke Hogan, was estranged from her father, that she would “get nothing” from him and that she had arranged to have herself “taken out” of his will by asking Hogan’s financial manager to remove her name.

After her father, legally known as Terry Bollea, died, Brooke Hogan posted on Instagram. She said that they had shared a “quiet, sacred bond,” and it felt like part of her “spirit left with him.” But she also claimed that she had been “verbally and mentally abused since childhood.” She did not attend his funeral.

As law professors who research and write about trusts and estates, we teach courses about the transfer of property during people’s lifetimes and after they’ve died. We believe that the questions arising over who will inherit Hogan’s wealth offer important insights into how family estrangement can affect estate planning.

Making an unusual request

Journalists initially speculated about why Brooke “wrote herself out” of her father’s will, and earlier this month, she explained: Brooke was “scared” of the fighting that would come after her dad died. She said she was worried that there might be conflicts with her mother and her father’s third wife, Sky Daily.

But, to be clear, while anyone can ask to be left out of a will, they really don’t have any control over whether that ultimately happens.

A will is a document that spells out how money and other property should be distributed after someone dies.

The person who signs the will – technically known as the "testator" – is the only one with the power to change or revoke their own will. They don’t have to tell anyone what the will says.

Even the witnesses who sign it may not know who is left any property. They usually are not informed of the bequests made within the will, and some states don’t even require that witnesses know the document being signed is a will.

That means only Hulk Hogan could decide what his will said about who would get what once he died. Yes, Brooke Hogan could have asked him to exclude her from his will, but the final decision was up to him.

Refusing an inheritance

A will’s provisions only become final when someone dies.

Until then, the person can change their will multiple times. At death, the will can no longer be changed, but anyone who is named to receive property can refuse their inheritance. Refusing gifted or inherited property is known as a "disclaimer."

Typically, when someone disclaims property, it goes to the next people in line – usually their children. If the person disclaiming property had no children at the time of death, the assets may go to their siblings or other relatives.

You might wonder why anyone would turn down an inheritance in the first place. One common situation arises when an heir is deep in debt. In these cases, disclaiming an inheritance can allow them to keep the money in the family.

This arrangement is legal in many states as long as the heir is not already in bankruptcy proceedings.

A hypothetical example

To understand how this might work, suppose an heir, whom we’re calling “Pat,” is left $4 million in his mother’s will. The timing is terrible for him because he’s deeply in debt, owing $5 million to creditors after the company he launched went belly up.

If Pat accepts that fortune, his creditors would be able to seize it. But he has a daughter, whom we’re calling “Marcy.” By refusing his inheritance, that $4 million can pass directly to Marcy. This arrangement is complicated but could leave Pat’s family better off because Marcy is free to spend her grandmother’s millions to pay off her college loans, buy a house and pay for her father’s rent – all without any risk of those assets being taken by his creditors.

Refusing an inheritance can also reduce the estate tax for the person who does so. The estate tax applies when people transfer lots of wealth at death. Under the tax reforms passed in July 2025, the first $15 million is exempt from the estate tax for individuals as of 2026, and twice that much for married couples. The exemption threshold is adjusted yearly for inflation.

The federal estate tax rate, which applies only to anything beyond the $15 million mark, is 40%, although many rich people take steps to reduce its impact through a handful of financial planning techniques. Many states have their own estate and inheritance taxes too.

Turning back to Pat’s mother, suppose that her estate was worth $100 million. If Pat accepts the inheritance, a 40% estate tax would apply. And if Pat leaves more than $15 million in 2026 dollars to his heirs without taking any steps to shield those assets, another 40% estate tax would be levied when he leaves his fortune to Marcy. But if Pat disclaims, then the government would only collect the estate tax once because his mom’s assets would skip him and go straight to Marcy.

Because Brooke Hogan asked to be disinherited before her father died, her request wasn’t a typical disclaimer. If she was not, in fact, included in Hulk Hogan’s will, as she requested, then there would be nothing for her to disclaim.

If Brooke Hogan is named in her father’s will and disclaims now that Hulk Hogan is dead, the most likely outcome is that her children, twins who were born in January 2025, would get their mother’s inheritance.

A few years after a reality TV show about the foibles of Hulk Hogan’s family began to air, he and his first wife got divorced.

Being estranged from close relatives

Estate disputes can become very contentious when members of a family are estranged, meaning that their relationships have soured or even broken off completely.

Although Brooke Hogan was reportedly concerned about avoiding litigation, given her estrangement from her father, it is usually the testator who takes action during the estate planning process to prevent disputes after they die.

That’s one reason why most wills – nearly 70% of them according to one study – include a “no contest” clause.

These clauses typically say something like “anyone who contests my will shall be disinherited from my estate.” Estate planners who recommend this technique believe that the penalty discourages unhappy heirs from filing lawsuits, which usually incur high attorney’s fees.

Fighting over money after a relative dies

What makes Brooke Hogan’s case unusual is that she asked to be disinherited to avoid a court battle over her father’s estate.

In many estranged families, the situation is the opposite: Heirs sue because they are disappointed by their share of the estate when they are either disinherited or given less than expected.

For Brooke Hogan, who says that she asked to be left out of her father’s will to avoid involving herself in any new family conflicts, the concern is understandable. Estate litigation can take an emotional toll by dragging grieving relatives into courtroom battles that are lengthy, expensive and make family rifts even worse.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Reid Kress Weisbord, Rutgers University - Newark and Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia

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The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.