Sometimes people seek to contest Wills simply because they do not like the way the deceased distributed his or her property. However, in order to effectively contest a Will, you need to have legal grounds for doing so and not liking how the Will distributes property is not a legal ground for contesting a Will. Here are a few of the more common legal grounds that people use to contest Wills:
Revocation: The Will submitted to Probate was actually revoked by the deceased, for example by creating a different Will later.
Lack of Capacity: The person who created the Will did not have the necessary mental capacity to do so at the time the Will was executed.
Mistaken Belief: The Will was written as it was because the person assumed a falsehood to be true. For example, if someone was left out of the Will because he or she was mistakenly believed to be dead.
Undue Influence: The Will was the result of someone exerting excessive pressure or influence on the deceased.
Fraud: The Will submitted to Probate was not created by the deceased at all.
Those are just a few examples of some of the more common legal grounds to contest Wills. There could be more depending on the facts of the case. If you do want to contest a Will, remember that you need legal grounds to do so and that you should talk to an attorney about what grounds you might have.
- Thought of the Day - September 20, 2023
- Thought of the Day - September 13, 2023
- Estate Planning and Divorce: Protecting Your Interests - September 7, 2023
