How to Contest a Deceased Family Member’s Will

The most common reason that the surviving family members of a recently deceased person dread probate is that it involves the payment of debts and taxes. Probate is a grim reminder that not even death can spare you from some financial obligations. Whoever said that the only things that are certain in life are death and taxes must have been thinking of probate. It is no fun watching your inheritance get smaller and smaller before it even reaches your bank account, but this is not the worst thing that can happen in probate. The biggest emotional stress, the kind that involves damaged familial relationships in addition to financial losses, is when there is a dispute about the validity of the will. A beneficiary of a will can challenge the will if the beneficiary believes that the will does not meet formal requirements or that the testator signed it only because of fraud or coercion. A family member of the decedent who believes that he or she was unfairly disinherited also has the right to challenge the will. For help challenging a deceased relative’s will, or for help defending against a challenge in your capacity as personal representative of a deceased family member’s estate, contact a Bronx probate attorney.

Do You Have Any Business Contesting the Will?

Not everyone has the right to contest a deceased person’s will. If contests of a will were open to everyone, then as soon as news sites published the notices that an estate was open for probate, all the enemies of the decedent would file challenges to the will just to cause trouble. Instead, you can only challenge the will if you have standing. To have standing, you must be able to prove that you would benefit financially if the court instead executed an extant version of the will other than the one the personal representative has entered into probate, or if the probate court distributed the decedent’s property according to the laws of intestate succession. In practice, this means that most people who contest wills are family members of the testator. You can also contest the will if you are a friend of the decedent, and the decedent left you an inheritance in an early version of his or her will but later disinherited you.

The Process of Reviewing a Will and Filing an Objection

Except in rare cases, the personal representative will notify you personally when the estate opens for probate. If the personal representative does not notify you, you will find out about the probate case by seeing the public notices on your local newspaper’s website. If you wish to challenge the will, you must file your challenge by the deadline listed on the notice. The court will then question you to determine whether your challenge has merit, and if it does, the challenge can proceed.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney

An estate planning lawyer can help you make persuasive arguments when challenging an invalid will.  Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.

Source:

nycbar.org/get-legal-help/article/wills-trusts-and-elder-law/wills/challenging-will/