Is There an Attorney Client Privilege in a Will Contest?
When a suit is filed contesting a will, the attorney who prepared the will may not be involved in the will contest. Since he is the one who supposedly prepared the will at the request of the testator, he would have some knowledge of the testator’s condition at the time the will was executed as [...]
Will contest in Australia.
I have written previously about the reasons more people are filing will contest today than in the past. You can view that article here. The United States is not the only country where wills are contested. If you are interested in the requirements for contesting a will in Australia, look at this site. The foregoing [...]
Who Has the Burden of Proof When Contesting a Will?
In Texas the burden of proof depends on when the will contest is filed. If the will is contested before it is admitted to probate, the burden of proof is on the person who is offering the will for probate. If the will is contested after the will is admitted to probate, the burden of [...]
A Starting Point for a Will Contest is an Unnatural Disposition.
When a person is deciding whether or not to contest a will, one of the first things to look for is an unnatural disposition of the property. An unnatural disposition is one where a beneficiary of the will is not someone who most people would think of as a natural object of the testator‘s bounty. [...]
In a will contest, can you recover your attorney’s fees if they were reasonable and necessary?
The probate code provides that if you offer a will for probate in good faith and with just cause, you can recover your reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees even if you lose. In a recent will contest, the proponent offered a 2003 will for probate. The contestants contested the 2003 will and offered an older [...]
Can a testator be unduly influenced when they are incompetent?
An appeals court recently had to decide if a jury’s verdict that the testator lacked testamentary capacity and their verdict that the testator was unduly influenced was so conflicting that the verdict had to be set aside. If a jury verdict has an irreconcilable conflict, the court is obligated to reverse the case. In general, [...]
Will a forged will always be set aside?
No, says the Waco Court of Appeals. In a case decided in 2011, a testator had children from a prior marriage. He left a will leaving everything to his second wife. One of his children contested the will. During the contest, a family settlement agreement was reached. The contest was dropped and the will was [...]
The growing problem of “deathbed marriages” between an elderly patient and their money-seeking caregiver.
The Wall Street Journal ran an article on June 11, 2011 entitled “Unholy Matrimony: How to Fight Back” about the growing problem of marriage between an elderly patient and their money-seeking caregiver. These cases differ from the normal case where a caregiver gets the elderly person to change their will to benefit the caregiver because [...]
Can a codicil revive a revoked will?
A codicil is an addition or supplement to a will. Someone may have been born or died since the original will was executed. A codicil is an easy way to make additions or deletions to a will without having to redo the entire will. However, the codicil has to be executed with the same formalities [...]
When a will is found after probate, does the two or four year limitations period apply?
In two cases where wills were offered for probate more than two years after a prior probate judgment, one court held that the second will could be offered and the other court held that it could not. In the first case, an older (1965) will was admitted to probate. More than two years later, a [...]
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- In Developing Countries, Lack of Inheritance Rights for Women May Depress the Country’s Economy
- Do the Witnesses to a Will Have to Know They are Witnessing a Will?
- BBC reports that 20% of Wills in the UK May Contain Mistakes
- Is There an Attorney Client Privilege in a Will Contest?
- Change In Massachusetts’ Probate Law Benefits Spouses.
- Do Ex-pats Worry About Inheritance Laws?
- “You never really know a person until you’ve shared an inheritance with them”
- Will contest in Australia.
- Can you create a trust with my money?
- Does a Bank Have to Return Money to an Estate that it Let the Wrong Person Withdraw?