In the second installment of our three-part series on wills, we talked about changes in your will (and your life). Your will is a constantly evolving document, but in order to make this evolution happen, you have to remain organized and make the necessary changes to your will. Your will won’t automatically reflect the way you have things organized in your mind. You have to actually put that thought on to paper in order to make it valid.
Today, to finalize this three-part series, we’re going to talk about challenging a will. To begin, who can actually challenge a will?
Obviously, challenging a will isn’t something that anyone can just to. You must have an actual stake in the individual’s estate. These people are called “interested persons” and they must be beneficiaries or heirs (or past beneficiaries of an old will).
Once it is clear who the “interested people” are, the question is “why would they challenge a will?” There are many reasons to challenge a will, actually.
An interested person could challenge the will based on the testator’s mental capacity. They could challenge the will based on undue influence, fraud or forgery. They could challenge the will upon the discovery of another will that overrides the first will. They could challenge because of statements from witness, or because of illegal or confusing provisions in the will.
There are many reasons why a will may be legally challenged, and there are many “interested people” that could bring these legal challenges.
Source: FindLaw, “Reasons to Challenge a Will,” Accessed Sept. 22, 2015