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 [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Contesting wills category.
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 [...]
Elder Financial Abuse – Signs
The United States government’s Administration on Aging, a part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, identifies the major types of elder abuse such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, financial abuse, etc. A type of abuse identified by the U.S. government that is seen too often in probate and inheritance matters is [...]
Concealing, altering or destroying a will is a state jail felony in Texas.
Texas Penal Code §32.47(d)(1) makes it a state jail felony for a person to conceal, alter or hide a will of another person. The statute says “A person commits an offense if, with intent to defraud or harm another, he destroys, removes, conceals, alters, substitutes, or otherwise impairs the verity, legibility, or availability of a [...]
When does a minor have to file a will contest?
Texas has a two year limitations period for contesting wills. If you don’t contest a will within two years, you are barred from contesting it thereafter. As I have written before, this is true even if a forged will is admitted to probate. What happens if a minor wants to contest a will when he [...]
What influence is “undue?”
A will can be denied probate because the testator was under undue influence when the will was executed. What evidence is sufficient to prove undue influence is case specific. What may be considered by a jury as undue influence in one case may not be in another case. Undue influence implies the existence of testamentary [...]
