Common Grounds for Contesting a Will

Contest an unfair, invalid, fraudulent, lost or destroyed Will

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Invalid Will

The Will is believed not to have been completed in accordance with current legislation. If you believe that a Will has been completed in an invalid manner then you may have grounds for contesting a Will.

Financial Dependence

If whilst the deceased was alive you received financial payments, gifts, or support whether of a financial nature, or in kind then you may have grounds for a claim.

Fraudulent Will

If you believe that the Will was completed fraudulently (i.e. by somebody other than the deceased) you may have grounds for a claim.

Promised Inheritance

Should the deceased have promised that you would be a beneficiary of the Will in consideration of you doing something in return whilst the deceased was alive (e.g. you bought part or all of the deceased's home, you agreed to care for the deceased, you invested in a business, you made a loan to the deceased) then you may have grounds for a claim.

Moral Issues

In circumstances where the child of the deceased either has little or no income / savings, or has unusually high expenditure (e.g. a disabled child) then you may have grounds for a claim.

Lost / Destroyed Will?

If you believe that you are a beneficiary of a Will that has been lost or destroyed then you may have grounds to make a claim.

Laws of Intestacy

If the deceased died without making a Will and you are a relative then you may have grounds for a claim.

Unreceived Inheritance

If you have been left an inheritance in a Will that has not been paid to you yet, then you may have grounds for contesting a Will in order to receive the money. The inheritance you have been left may take the form of money, valuables or even a property (or a share of a property) which, as yet, has not been sold for whatever reason (even if someone is currently living in the property).

Mental Incapacity

The claimant believes that when the deceased completed the Will, the deceased was mentally ill (as evidenced medically e.g. the deceased was on prescribed psychiatric medication, resident at a psychiatric home / hospital, had given Power of Attorney to somebody else for mental reasons, or had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act). A Will can also be contested on the grounds of Mental Incapability simply because a solicitor was not involved in the completion of the Will. If you believe the deceased suffered from mental incapacity at the time of completing the Will then you may have grounds for a claim.

Mirror and Mutual Wills

If the deceased completed a “Mirror Will” or a “Mutual Will” in which you were a beneficiary (directly or indirectly) and subsequently changed the Will or completed a new Will which reduced dramatically the amount you are to inherit, then you may have grounds for a claim.

3rd Party Beneficiaries

If you are a child of the deceased and one or more of the beneficiaries of the Will is unconnected to the deceased (e.g. a charity) then you may have grounds for a claim.

Serial Beneficiary

The claimant believes that the beneficiary is a "serial" beneficiary. If you believe that undue pressure was put on the deceased when making the Will by the "serial" beneficiary then you may have grounds for contesting the Will.

Legal Rights (Scotland Only)

If you were a blood relative or a legally adopted child of the deceased and you have not received any money from the estate of the deceased, then you may have grounds for a claim. This applies even if the deceased left a Will but excluded you as a beneficiary or indeed if the deceased did not leave a Will at all.

Trust Disputes

If you are (or you believe that you are) a beneficiary of a Trust and have not received any money from the Trust (or the money you have received you consider to be insufficient), then you may have grounds for a claim. Indeed you maybe able to bring a claim irrespective of whether the person who set up the Trust is still alive or has died.