Wills allow people to protect their dependents and establish an appropriate legacy given their personal resources and values. A will may name individuals as beneficiaries. Other times, people may leave resources for charitable causes that are dear to them.
Typically, people’s testamentary intentions change throughout their lives. As people add family members, lose loved ones and change their personal holdings, they may need to modify their estate plans.
Unfortunately, many people draft a will and then never review the document despite significant changes to their personal circumstances. After those people die, their loved ones may feel shocked at their omission from estate planning documents. If the date of a will’s creation indicates that it predates many significant changes in an individual’s life, it is sometimes possible to contest a will by asserting in court that it does not accurately reflect an individual’s wishes or circumstances.
How old is the will?
Some people draft wills when they first become legal adults and then never update their paperwork. Others decide that estate planning is important once they have a child, but they may not always update their documents as their family continues to grow.
People questioning the validity of a seemingly outdated will may want to look at the date that the testator signed the document. They can then create a list of the major changes to their family and resources that followed.
When a will does not include specific people or particularly valuable assets, people who expected to inherit from the estate may have reason to question the document’s validity in probate court. They may potentially be able to convince the courts to set the will aside and proceed as though the estate were intestate.
In such cases, immediate family members typically inherit the property that belonged to the decedent. Intestate succession laws favor surviving spouses and children, although parents and other family members may also be able to inherit if the person who died did not have a spouse or surviving progeny.
Discussing concerns about a will with a skilled legal team can help grieving family members who expected to inherit determine whether probate litigation might be a reasonable option. In cases involving drastically outdated documents, will contests could help uphold the true wishes and personal responsibilities of a deceased individual.