How Wills Are Interpreted in Nevada
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By Ronald W. Brilliant, Attorney at Law · Licensed in Idaho, Nevada & California · Last reviewed: September 2026 against Nevada Revised Statutes Title 12 (current through the 2025 legislative session)
In This GuideNevada Wills & ProbateTopic 3 of 17: Interpreting Wills
Even a validly signed will leaves questions. What if a child was born after the will was signed? What if a person named in the will died first? What if property carries a mortgage, or two family members die at the same time? Nevada’s statutes answer many of these questions directly.
This page covers the rules in NRS 133.140 through 133.220 and Nevada’s Uniform Simultaneous Death Act in Chapter 135 (NRS 135.010). They matter to anyone named in a will, to family members left out of one, and to the personal representative who must carry out the will. A personal representative includes an executor or administrator (NRS 132.265).
Key Terms
- Testator: a person who makes a will (NRS 132.345).
- Devise: a gift of real or personal property by will (NRS 132.095).
- Devisee: a person named in a will to receive a devise (NRS 132.100).
- Intestate: a person who dies without leaving a will (NRS 132.190).
- Issue: children, grandchildren or more remote lineal descendants (NRS 132.205).
- Right of representation: a method of distribution in which a deceased person’s descendants take the share their parent or other ancestor would have taken if living (NRS 132.290).
- District court: a Nevada district court sitting in probate or otherwise deciding matters under the probate title (NRS 132.116).
Children Not Mentioned in the Will
Children Born After the Will Was Signed
When a child is born after a parent makes a will, and the will makes no provision for that child, the child is entitled to the same share the child would receive if the parent had died intestate (NRS 133.160(1)). The shares that apply when there is no will are explained on the page about dying without a will.
This rule does not apply if (NRS 133.160(1)(a)–(b)):
- It is apparent from the will that the testator intended to make no provision for that child (NRS 133.160(1)(a)); or
- The testator provided for the child by a transfer of property outside the will, and it appears the testator intended that transfer to take the place of a gift in the will (NRS 133.160(1)(b)).
When the child does take an intestate share, the rest of the will stays in effect to the extent it is consistent with that share, including any choice of personal representative (NRS 133.160(2)).
Children and Grandchildren Left Out of the Will
When a testator’s child, or the issue of a deceased child, is omitted from the will, the law presumes the omission was intentional (NRS 133.170). If the court finds that the omission was unintentional, the child or the deceased child’s issue is entitled to the same share as if the testator had died intestate (NRS 133.170).
Where the Omitted Child’s Share Comes From
A share given to an after-born or omitted child is taken first from any part of the estate the will does not dispose of (NRS 133.180). If that is not enough, the rest is taken from all devisees in proportion to the value each would receive under the will (NRS 133.180).
If that approach would defeat the testator’s obvious intention about a specific gift or provision, that gift or provision may be exempted, and a different apportionment consistent with the testator’s intention may be adopted (NRS 133.180).
Effect of Lifetime Advancements
If the unprovided-for children or their descendants already received an equal proportion of the testator’s estate during the testator’s lifetime by way of an advancement, as provided in NRS 151.120, they take nothing under these rules (NRS 133.190). A gift counts as an advancement only if it was expressed as one in the gift, charged in writing by the decedent as one, or acknowledged in writing by the recipient as one (NRS 151.120).
When a Beneficiary Dies Before the Testator
Unless the will says otherwise, if a beneficiary who is a descendant of the testator dies before the testator and leaves lineal descendants, that beneficiary’s share goes to his or her descendants then living, by right of representation (NRS 133.200). They receive it under the same terms that would have applied to the deceased beneficiary (NRS 133.200).
This statute applies only to beneficiaries who are descendants of the testator and who leave lineal descendants (NRS 133.200). A will can set a different rule (NRS 133.200).
Real Property and Property Acquired Later
A devise of real property passes all of the testator’s interest in that property that could lawfully be devised, unless the will clearly shows the testator intended to pass a lesser interest (NRS 133.210).
Real property the testator acquires after making the will passes under the will as if it had been owned when the will was made, if the will manifestly shows that was the testator’s intention (NRS 133.220).
Mortgages, Liens and Sale Agreements
A specific devise passes subject to any mortgage or lien existing on the date of death, without right of exoneration (NRS 133.155). In plain terms, the devisee receives the property with that mortgage or lien still attached (NRS 133.155). This is true even if the will contains a general direction to pay debts (NRS 133.155).
A charge or encumbrance placed on property to secure payment of money or performance of an agreement does not revoke an earlier will covering that property; the gifts pass subject to the charge or encumbrance (NRS 133.150).
If the testator agreed to convey property that the will already gives away, that agreement does not revoke the gift (NRS 133.140). The property passes under the will, but the devisee is subject to the same remedies on the agreement, such as specific performance, that could have been pursued against the testator’s heirs (NRS 133.140). Heirs are the people entitled to inherit when someone dies without a will (NRS 132.165).
Other ways a will can stop working, such as marriage, divorce or revocation, are covered on the page about changing or revoking a will.
Simultaneous Death
Sometimes who inherits depends on who died first, but there is not enough evidence to tell. Nevada’s Uniform Simultaneous Death Act supplies default rules for these cases (NRS 135.010).
The general rule: where ownership of property depends on the order of death, and there is insufficient evidence that the persons died otherwise than simultaneously, each person’s property is disposed of as if that person had survived (NRS 135.020). The specific rules below apply in particular situations.
| Situation | Default rule | NRS |
|---|---|---|
| Each person’s own property | Disposed of as if that person survived | 135.020 |
| Beneficiaries set to take one after another by survivorship under someone else’s disposition | Property split into equal portions, one for each successive beneficiary, each distributed as if that beneficiary had survived | 135.030 |
| Two joint tenants, or spouses holding community property with right of survivorship | One-half distributed as if one survived, one-half as if the other survived | 135.040 |
| More than two joint tenants who all died this way | Distributed in the proportion one bears to the whole number of joint tenants | 135.040 |
| Life or accident insurance, insured and beneficiary both died | Proceeds distributed as if the insured survived the beneficiary | 135.050 |
| Both spouses died leaving community property | One-half distributed as if each spouse had survived | 135.060 |
The community property rule does not apply where NRS 135.050 (insurance) or an enforceable premarital agreement under Chapter 123A provides otherwise (NRS 135.060).
Chapter 135 does not apply to wills, living trusts, deeds or contracts that provide for distribution of property differently from these rules (NRS 135.080).
Questions about what a will means sometimes end up in court. Challenges to a will are covered on the page about will contests, and the final handout of property is covered in distribution and closing.
How I Can Help
I help personal representatives, beneficiaries and family members understand how Nevada’s statutes apply to a particular will, including questions about omitted children, beneficiaries who died first, mortgaged property and simultaneous deaths. If you need to know how a will is likely to be read under these rules, Request a consultation to discuss your situation.
This page provides general information about Nevada wills and probate law, based on Nevada Revised Statutes Title 12 as of the 2025 legislative session, and is not legal advice. Other Nevada laws, court rules, and case law also affect these matters. Every estate is different; consult an attorney about your situation. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.