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Jasper L.
Edwards
Have you ever been left money in a will? If you
haven't, have you ever thought about contesting
a will where you think you should have been
left some money? Or maybe someone did remember
you in their will, but not as generously as you
thought they should have.
This situation occurs most often when one child
among siblings devotes their entire adult life
to caring for an elderly parent and finds, upon
the parent's death that the estate has been
left in equal shares to all the siblings, with
no special compensation for the devotion the
child showed to the parent during their
lifetime.
Depending on the circumstances, contested
wills, understandably, can cause hard feelings
and be an expensive, emotionally wrenching
experience.
Contesting A Will Because Of Incapacity
A person who makes a will must be 18 years of
age or older and of "sound mind," a term that
means the person knows what they have, what
they are giving away, who their blood relatives
are, and what they are doing with their
property in the will. One valid reason to
contest a will would be that the deceased did
not meet these basic qualifications.
Contesting A Will Because Of A Technicality
A will is a formal document that must meet
certain strict requirements. The requirements
vary depending on where you live, but generally
speaking a will must be in writing, the will
must state that it is the intent of the person
making the will, a will must be witnessed by
two ore more individuals, and the witnesses
must sign a special statement when they witness
the will. A contested will might result where
one of these special legal requirements was not
fulfilled.
Contesting A Will Because Of Undue
Influence
This is the contested will that turns up in
feature films and situation comedies. Someone
close to the deceased, who ends up benefiting
from the terms of the will, is accused of
exercising undue influence over the deceased in
the making of his or he will. Undue influence
can be very hard to prove, as it requires that
the person exercising undue influence over the
deceased had control over the deceased almost
to the point of taking over their free will and
controlling their behavior. Furthermore, during
this time the deceased must have been forced to
make a new will or change their old will.
There are limited circumstances where undue
influence is easier to prove. If the attorney
who wrote the will is unrelated to the
deceased, and the attorney benefits from the
will to the detriment of blood relatives,
judges are more likely to entertain a claim of
undue influence.
RESOURCE
BOX
Free Wills
to Print provides detailed information on
Free Wills, How to Write a Will, Last Will And
Testament, Living Wills and more.
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