What Happens When Someone Disputes a Will?

The death of a loved one is a difficult time that can be made more difficult when someone decides to dispute or contest the will of that loved one. Contesting a will is a type of estate dispute that, unfortunately, many families in Branson and elsewhere throughout Missouri go through. Disputing a will means that someone is disputing the validity of part or all of the will.

Someone may dispute how certain property should be distributed, the named executor of the will, or that someone should have been included in the will. For example, the deceased individual may have excluded someone who would ordinarily be entitled to property through Missouri’s intestacy laws but for the fact that he or she wasn’t named in the will.

How to Dispute a Will

Disputing a will can only be done during the probate process by certain individuals. In Missouri, only “interested persons” have standing to dispute a will. This means that only people who have an ascertainable interest, are a beneficiary of the will, or those who have a statutory right to an individual’s estate have standing to contest a will. Simply being related to the decedent does not necessarily make someone an interested person with standing to dispute the will.

A person disputing a will must have legal grounds to challenge its authenticity. For example, someone contesting a will because he was upset that nothing was left to him is not a legitimate legal ground to contest a will. On the other hand, if someone has proof that someone subjected the decedent to fraud, duress, or undue influence during the creation of the will, that is a legitimate legal ground to dispute the will’s validity.

Other common grounds for disputing a will include:

• The decedent was not of sound mind when the will was created
• The will did not follow all formalities when it was being drafted/written
• The will submitted to probate was not actually the will the decedent wanted to use (meaning, the document lacks “testamentary intent”).

After disputing the will and filing the dispute with the court, a hearing is held to determine whether or not the will is valid. If the court determines that the entire will or parts of the will is invalid, then those parts are thrown out. If there is another will, the court may use that will instead to distribute a decedent’s estate. If there is no other will, the court will distribute the decedent’s estate as if the decedent never had a will through state intestacy laws.

Let Our Branson Estate Planning Lawyer Help You With Your Will Dispute

It can be difficult to work through the complexities of these matters alone, which is why it is important to work with an experienced Branson estate planning lawyer who can help you. Let us help you — contact our office today.