Wills are rarely contested. But it does happen. And usually it is in the court system where the battle is fought. When the contest over a will is won, it is usually for good reasons. Ninety-nine percent of all wills are executed without being contested. And, in most cases, when a person decides to contest a will, he or she does so with valid reasons. And if the reasons are good enough the courts usually grant approval and allow the will to continue as intended. Although there are many reasons to contest a will, a few reasons why a will may be contested are covered below. Will Attorneys help to manage all these scenarios?

Fraud and Undue Influence

Fraud is one reason a court may invalidate a will. If the will was obtained through forgery, or perhaps by undue influence, a court can deem the will invalid. Manipulation by a nefarious relative or a person with greedy intentions may try to persuade a person to write the will in their favor.

A Person’s Mental State

A person must be of a sound mind to write a will. The person should know what a will is, and that they were making the will for a specific purpose. They should know what the will provides, who is provided for, and the best way to distribute the assets of the estate.

Age

Normally a person must be at least 18 years old to write a will legally. Some states allow underage people to write wills. But these minors are emancipated. They may be married or in the military.

The Contents

Certain criteria dictate what a will should contain. Although each state governs what needs to be in a will, there are three things that all states require.

•                   The will must actually state it is, indeed, a will, and to whom the will belongs to.

•                   The will must include one substantive provision. For example, leaving a piece of property a specific person, or persons, or placing someone, a guardian, in charge of a minor.

•                   And the will must appoint someone to execute the will. The executor is responsible for making sure the stipulations of the will are met.

Witnesses

Typed or written wills, whether they are fabricated by hand or by machine, i.e. typewriter, word processor, or computer, are required to be witnessed by at least two adult observers. The witnesses are not required to watch the person make the will. But they must be present for the signing of the will. Wills that were written by hand and do not have witnesses to verify the signing are valid in only about fifty percent of the United States. And these wills must be verified that the person who wrote it, did, in fact, write it. In other words, the handwritings must match through analysis. These are the wills that are usually challenged by people in the courts.

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