Contesting a Will – The General Guide!

If someone were to ask you what Pavarotti and James Brown have in common, what would your answer be? Most people would assume it has something to do with singing, but, in actual fact, the main thing that both singers have in common is that both have had their will contested by their children since they passed away. Indeed, these were two of the most prominent cases involving a will being contested that have been in the public eye in some time.

The contesting of a will is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. There are two classes of people who may choose to challenge the validity of a will. The first are those who are named in the will (the beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries, for instance), and the second are those who would potentially inherit from the maker of the will if the will could be proven to be invalid.

There are many reasons for the contesting of a will becoming more commonplace. Firstly, people are much more aware of the need to make a will in the first place. Without a will a person dies intestate and it the estate passes via the insolvency rules. This may be contrary to the original wishes of the testator.

However, despite increasing awareness of the important role of a will, only 29% of us have made one. Many problems can arise as a result, one example being where unmarried yet long-term partners fail to do so in the erroneous assumption that the law will still recognise the other partner as a recipient of their assets purely because they have lived together for a number of years.

Another problem is that not everyone who makes a will does it in the correct fashion. In other words, although a will has been made, it is not formally valid. Disputes over the validity of a will can occur for a number of reasons.

Firstly, a badly drafted will can cause many problems and lead to a dispute. This is often a problem relating to preparation and also the execution of the will. The wills must not only be correctly signed and witnessed, but the maker of the will must also have thought through the full consequences and ramifications of the will they have made, and have both known and approved the content. Simply put; the will should be in accordance with the intentions of the will-maker and not those of any potential beneficiaries in line with the specifications of the Wills Act.

Grounds upon which a will may be contested include illness upon the part of the will-maker, especially if it impacted upon their mental capacity at the time, and fraud. A will can also be contested because the will-maker did not have the legal capacity to make the will. Disputes can also arise if the Executors or Administrators of an estate fail to handle the distribution of the estate capably and efficiently.

If you found yourself in a position where you wished to contest the validity of a will, then there are a further variety of more complex legal grounds on which you can do this. An important consideration is that there are time limits which must be adhered to for claims. Ultimately, it is vital to seek good legal advice, and particularly to do this at an early stage as this will boost your chances of contesting a will successfully.

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