Can the beneficiary of a life insurance policy be contested?

How Do I Determine If It’s Worth It To Contest A Will?

If your lawsuit does not meet certain requirements, it might be better to deal with the dispute outside the courts.

A will may be contested if:

• the will was improperly executed
• the will was made while the person was under undue influence
• a fraudulent action influenced the execution of the will
• the person’s mental capacity was in question when the will was made

While the laws that apply to wills are simple and are fairly consistent across all 50 states, the burden of proof in all cases is on the side of the party challenging the will and they are not always easy to prove.

Learn more about contesting a beneficiary below and make sure to utilize our free life insurance quote tool above!

–The Will Was Improperly Executed

State law is very specific about how a will must be executed. This includes the number of witnesses who must be present at the time a will is signed.

If any of these simple, but specific, rules were violated, and it can be proved, all or parts of a will may be invalidated by the court.

–Undue Influence Was Used to Influence the Will

This scenario could come up if an elderly person has been in the care of another for a period of time, perhaps a housekeeper, nurse, or personal assistant.

At the time the will is read, the family may suspect that this person has exerted undue influence on their loved one. The believe a change from a previous will was not what their relative would have wanted. These parties may contest the will.

–The Will Was Fraudulently Executed

A will contest may allege that the deceased was tricked into signing a document that they did not realize was a will.

The document might have been presented to them as something else, like an insurance policy or other legal documents. If the family believes the person did not know what they were signing, they may contest the will.

–The Person ‘s Mental Capacity Was In Question When The Will Was Executed

In the cases of Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other mental illnesses that tend to affect the elderly, it can be argued that the deceased did not have the mental capacity to responsibly make or change a will.

This, like all the other arguments, will have to be proven. A successful challenge will likely involve medical records and interviews with doctors from the period when the will was executed.

–Other Scenarios

If the will is inconsistent with other documents executed by the deceased, for example, the person divided assets equally among his children in all other executed documents, but the will favors only one child it may be successfully contested.

Additionally, if a provision in the will was accidental, the court may rule favorably in that case. An example is if the last born child is not included, and the case is made that the parent simply forgot to add them.

People do not always remember to update their legal documents, and mistakes like this are one result of such forgetfulness.

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Contesting a Will is Common, But Not Necessarily The Best Course of Action

Contesting a will is not uncommon. Yet the decision to contest may be an emotional one, made in the immediate aftermath of a death, and not necessarily well thought out.

If the reading of a will brings unhappy surprises, some interested party who feels wronged is likely to phone their lawyer on the way home from the funeral.

But contesting a will can be a long and expensive process.

It is worth considering alternatives to a legal action, such as a private settlement.

Additionally, a “no-contest” clause may be included in a will to discourage later challenges. In such cases, a person who contests a will and loses will surrender his part of the estate.

It is worth it to verify that a will does not have a no-contest clause before bringing a challenge.

Other Considerations

In the current culture which boasts a 50 percent divorce rate, one of the most common reasons for a will contest is that the deceased remarried and never remembered to change his or her will to reflect the new beneficiaries.

This kind of oversight leads to situations in which an ex-spouse inherits an estate, even if the divorce was many years prior. Getting this overturned might not be easy, as the law favors spouses, even ex-spouses, in such disputes.

A current spouse usually cannot be left out of a will altogether, however. In a

In a community property state, the spouse shares ownership in all property the couple acquires after the marriage, and an executed will only applies to the deceased’s half of the marital property.

All state laws tend to protect spouses and children from complete “disinheritance.” In will contests, these close relatives are most likely to prevail in court.

Courts will be influenced, in these cases, by standard laws of succession, which are in place to ensure that a breadwinner cannot abandon a family.

At a minimum, even if many assets have been put in trusts and joint-ownership accounts with other parties in an effort to limit the spousal inheritance, the spouse will generally end up with at least 1/3 of the assets in probate.

Finally, there are assets that are not governed by a will at all. T

These are lumped together as “non-probate assets” and typically include life insurance policies, retirement accounts, assets held in trusts, and things like savings bonds.

The distribution of most of these assets cannot be contested. They go to the designated beneficiaries, and that’s that.

Possible Outcomes of a Will Contest

Many  TV shows and movies have included a dramatic will contest as its central plot line, and this makes for good entertainment. In reality, though, the courts will rule on a will contest in only one of the following ways:

• the court will invalidate the will
• the court will invalidate the parts of the will that are in dispute
• the court will throw out the dispute

If the court invalidates the will or part of it, these assets will be treated as if the person had died “intestate,” or without a will, and will be distributed based on the laws of “intestate succession.”

Everyone can benefit from a consult with an estates and trusts attorney, but if you have significant assets, it is more than a good investment. It can save you many hours and many dollars down the road.

Wills do sometimes offer surprises. And in general, the laws about how to contest them are simple.

But knowing just the basics can help you to craft better Last Will and Testaments, which reflect your true desires, avoid family disputes after you are gone by being as simple, clear, and fair as possible, or successfully contest a will in circumstances where you suspect your loved one’s wishes have not been honored.

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