Whether you are left out of a grounds for contesting a will or you suspect your loved one was wronged by the contents of their estate, it’s important to understand what grounds can be used to contest a will. The first step is determining whether or not you have standing to do so, which requires that you be an interested party, and that you stand to benefit from the contested will’s invalidation. If you don’t have standing, it’s impossible to contest a will and you won’t receive any of the estate if you win.

Grounds for Contesting a Will: Understanding Valid Reasons to Challenge Testamentary Documents

There are three main reasons to contest a will: undue influence, lack of mental capacity or fraud. Undue influence is when a vulnerable testator was coerced into creating a will that does not reflect their true intentions. For this reason, this is a common cause for a will to be contested. To prove this, it is necessary to have medical records and the opinion of a suitably qualified medical expert.

A will can also be contested on the basis of improper execution, which means that it was not properly signed or witnessed. For this reason, it is necessary to have two witnesses present at the time of signing. In addition, the testator must have been of sound mind when they signed the will. A will can also be contested on the grounds of forgery. However, for this to succeed, you must have proof that the will is not genuine and that the testator was tricked into signing it.