Is it Worth Contesting a Will?
There is always a period of emotional difficulty after a loved one dies, but this can become much harder to process if there are problems with their last will and testament. If you have been missed out of the will, if you don’t get what you expected, or if the will doesn’t seem to match with the wishes the deceased expressed before they passed away, you might feel that it is in your best interests to challenge the will or prevent the probate process from moving ahead until the matter can be resolved.
Is it worth contesting a will under these circumstances? It is a complicated process and is only applicable in certain situations, but the answer may be yes. Here, the contentious probate experts at JMW will explain the legal grounds for contesting a will and the evidence you will need to provide to prove your case, in order to help you decide whether you should try to contest a will in your specific circumstances.
If you need advice tailored to your situation, you can also speak to JMW’s expert contentious probate team for more information.
Can I contest a will if I am unhappy with it?
In most cases, the simple answer to this is no. If you are unhappy that you have been left out of a will or feel that you were not left a fair gift, there is usually no way to resolve this by contesting the will and these reasons are not legal grounds to do so. However, this is not true in every case – other factors may make it worth contesting the will in such cases, as we’ll explain below.
You may have grounds to contest a will if you feel that the will does not represent the wishes of the deceased that were expressed to you before they died. In particular, if you think that there is a possibility that the will was forged, that the deceased did not have the mental capacity to make or understand the will at the time it was made, or that they may have been coerced to make changes to their will by someone else, these are all legal grounds to contest a will.
If you were financially dependent on the deceased and you have been missed out of the will, you may be able to apply for ‘reasonable provision’ under the Inheritance Act. Under these regulations, you can apply for provision for your maintenance provided you were a close relative of the deceased or were living with them for more than two years before they passed away.
Having legal grounds to challenge a will or seek provision from someone’s estate does not mean that you will be successful in overturning the will or in securing the outcome you desire, but it is important that you have a legal justification to challenge a will before you decide to do so.
Am I likely to succeed in a will challenge?
If you intend to challenge a will, you should try to do so before a grant of probate has been issued. You can start the process by issuing a caveat, which you can do online. This will delay the start of the probate process and enable you to resolve any issues with the will privately before things move ahead. While you can issue a caveat online by yourself, if you have serious legal concerns with the will and intend to contest it, you should speak to an expert contentious probate solicitor about your potential for success.
In many cases, you will need a large volume of evidence to successfully contest a will. If you have this evidence, it is certainly worth pursuing a case, because the will may not reflect the wishes of the deceased, other people may have been hurt, and there may even be criminal liability if your loved one was coerced to change their will. The evidence you can use may vary, but you will ultimately need to demonstrate that there is no other explanation for the discrepancy between the will and the deceased’s stated intentions or that the deceased did not freely make the will while of sound mind.
If you need advice on your prospects of winning a will contest or you feel that you may have legal grounds to issue a challenge, visit the JMW Solicitors funeraldirections.com webpage.
Will Disputes (supplied and attributed to JMW Solicitors LLP).