Hugh Hefner’s wife stiffed in millionaire’s will

Hugh Hefner’s widow Crystal Harris won’t receive a dime of his wealth after deliberately she was left out of his will.

The Sun reports that Harris signed a prenuptial agreement excluding her from his estimated US$43 million when the pair wed in 2012.

Instead his fortune will go to “his children, the University of Southern California film school and a variety of charities,” US Weekly reports.

Hefner died of natural causes on Thursday aged 91.

It’s not the first time a high-profile celebrity has brought the issue of wills and inheritance into the spotlight.

X-Factor judge Simon Cowell and billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have all pledged to donate their money to charity rather than passing it onto their family.

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson told British magazine My Weekly in 2008 that she doesn’t believe in passing wealth from one generation to the next.

“I am determined that my children should have no financial security,” she said. “It ruins people not having to earn money.”

The laws around which family members you can and cannot exclude from your will differ from country to country.

If you plan on disinheriting your children there are certain steps you need to take in case they attempt to contest the will after you’re gone.

The same can be said for ex-partners or family members you may have fallen out with.

Previous high-profile cases have brought the issue to the forefront, with one of the most famous being singer James Brown’s wife and children who demanded half of the fortune he left for his grandchildren’s education and the education of needy children in Georgia and South Carolina.

They were awarded half of his fortune by the court in 2009.

Have you thought much about your will? Would you ever cut out any family members?