Challenges to a Will

In common speech people talk about ‘challenging a Will’.  The phrase is not a legal term, so what does it really mean?

In essence there are two types of challenges to a Will.

Firstly, a person may ‘challenge a Will’ if they have evidence that the Will does not reflect the true wishes of the deceased, was signed under duress, the person lacked legal capacity, or the Will fails to comply with some other technical requirement, making it invalid.  These are the minority of cases and clear evidence is required before a court will overturn what otherwise appears to be a document setting out the deceased’s wishes.

The second type of challenge to a Will is not a challenge to the whole Will but just the part to which the challenger takes exception.  These are what are called ‘family provisions’ claims, where a relative believes they have not received their fair share of the deceased’s estate. They ask the court to give them a share or a greater share of the deceased’s estate.

Whichever of these applies to your circumstances, the legal issues involved are complex and need management by lawyers experienced in these areas.  Note that in some cases the costs of the parties may be paid by the estate so unhappy family members with insufficient resources to fund a challenge can still afford to do so.