Contesting a Will: Undue Influence
You always hope that your family and loved ones will accept and understand your
final wishes, but what happens if they don’t? Hurt feelings and family dynamics
can lead to contesting a loved one’s will, and we discuss one of the legal reasons to
contest a will – undue influence.
You always hope that your family and loved ones will accept and understand your
final wishes, but what happens if they don’t? Hurt feelings and family dynamics
during a time of grief can result in family members or loved ones contesting a will.
But, simply being upset with your inheritance is not a legal, valid reason to contest
a will. A court will not entertain a will contest unless it is based on a valid, legal
assertion involving:
Improper execution,
Lack of testamentary capacity,
Errors, or
Wrongdoing by a third party, such as fraud or undue influence.
Undue influence can be present when a trusted person influences the testator, the
person making the will, to make a will that benefits the trusted person as
beneficiary. The key to undue influence is proving whose overall intent was put
into the will: the testator or the beneficiary.
In order to successfully contest a will under the premise of undue influence, there
must be evidence of coercion. Since the testator is deceased, the courts often have
to turn to circumstantial evidence. They will look at the following:
Was the deceased elderly, in ill health or incapacitated enough to be
susceptible to undue influence;
Did the person accused of exerting undue influence have the opportunity or
motive to do so.
Did the person accused of exerting undue influence play an active role in
creating the will,
Does the will appear to be influenced, such as where an estate is left entirely
to a sole caretaker.
In many cases undue influence is an accusation made by a sibling against another
sibling who had a close relationship with a deceased parent. Other cases involve
caretakers, charitable organizations or others receiving estates while family
members are overlooked.
Working with an estate planning attorney can help avoid later issues when it comes
to wills and estates. An estate planning lawyer can not only help avoid any legal
technicalities for contesting a will, but can also be involved with identifying and
avoiding other legal issues that may arise when a will is executed.
Experienced estate planning attorneys Portland OR of the Law Offices of Richard
B. Schneider LLC offers estate planning and business planning resources to
residents of Portland OR. To learn more about these free resources, please visit
http://www.rbsllc.com/ today.