By now, you’ve probably seen the headlines about Hulk Hogan, the larger-than-life wrestling icon with the bandana, the handlebar mustache, and the voice that could rattle a stadium. But lately, the story isn’t about wrestling; it’s about estate planning. According to reports, Hogan cut his daughter, Brooke Hogan, out of his estate. Now she’s publicly discussing financial struggles, including exploring selling pictures of her feet online to generate income. Let that sink in for a moment: a father worth millions, a daughter cut out, and public family tension resulting in the monetization of feet photos. You can’t make this stuff up.
Beneath the celebrity shock value is something far more important and common than people think. This is what happens when estate planning becomes emotional instead of strategic. Yes, you can cut a child out. In most states, including Massachusetts, there is no automatic inheritance right for adult children. If your documents clearly say, “I intentionally make no provision for my daughter,” courts will generally honor that. It’s legal, but “legal” and “smart” are not the same thing. When you disinherit a child, you are making an emotional, legacy, litigation-risk, and public-reputation decision. In a celebrity case, you’re also making a headline.
The Strategic Question: Why?
Whenever we see a story like this, we don’t immediately think, “Wow, that’s harsh”. We think: what problem was he trying to solve? Disinheritance usually comes from one of five places: estrangement, addiction or financial irresponsibility, second marriages, prior lifetime gifts, or punishment. If it’s punishment, that’s the most dangerous reason of all, because estate plans written out of anger almost always create unintended consequences.
Here’s what most people don’t realize: when you cut someone out entirely, you lose leverage. There are alternatives. Instead of disinheriting, you could leave assets in a discretionary trust, appoint an independent trustee, structure distributions over time, or include incentive provisions to protect assets from creditors or divorce. That’s strategic estate planning, thinking five moves ahead. Simply crossing someone’s name off the will is checkers, not chess.
The Litigation Time Bomb
Another problem is that disinheritance invites litigation. When a child who expected to inherit is cut out, you dramatically increase the risk of undue influence claims, lack of capacity arguments, and expensive probate battles. In a high-profile estate, those lawsuits cost both money and reputation. Even if Hogan’s plan is airtight, the very act of disinheritance raises the odds that someone will challenge it, which means lots of lawyers.
When Brooke says she may have to sell photos of her feet, it represents “financial whiplash”. When someone grows up around significant wealth and then suddenly has none, the adjustment is brutal. But did she plan her own life assuming an inheritance? That’s a mistake we see all the time: adult children assume their parents’ assets will be there to replace retirement planning, only to have the inheritance disappear due to remarriage, estrangement, or long-term care costs. That’s an American family problem, not just a Hogan problem.
A Message for High-Net-Worth Families
If you have substantial assets and you’re angry at one of your children, you need to slow down. We would ask: what outcome are you trying to create, and is there a structured solution instead of a nuclear one? Estate planning is about stewardship, not revenge. At Monteforte Law, we ask what story your estate plan will tell. Will it say you were thoughtful and protected everyone, or that the family imploded because you punished them? You don’t get to rewrite that story once you’re gone.
Finally, remember that if you disinherit a child, you are also disinheriting reconciliation. Once that document is signed, the door narrows. We have designed guardrails instead of guillotines for clients who eventually saw their relationships repair themselves years later. Estate planning should leave room for future healing, not close the door forever.