Do You Want to Contest a Will?

An estate must pass through the legal process of probate, and during this process it is possible for interested parties to come forward to contest the validity of a last will.

If you want to contest the will you must have sufficient grounds. The mere fact that you feel as though you were treated unfairly by the decedent is not going to be enough.

Each individual has the right to leave behind his or her resources as he or she sees fit. Your relationship to the person who passed away does not inherently entitle you to anything if the decedent has executed a last will leaving you out.

There are however certain criteria that can be utilized to challenge a last will successfully. One of these would be the contention that the individual in question was not of sound mind when he or she executed the last will.

Another one would be undue coercion. For a will to be valid the testator must execute it voluntarily without being forced or coerced.

The third one of the grounds that we would like to highlight here is that of fraud. If it can be proven that the testator was lured into signing the will under fraudulent circumstances the document could be invalidated.

And finally, there is the matter of improper execution. If the estate planning documents are not executed in accordance with the laws of the state of Iowa they can be ruled invalid by the probate court.

This is one of the reasons why you would do well to avoid do-it-yourself, so-called “one-size-fits-all” estate planning downloads that you can buy on the Internet. When you work with an estate planning attorney who is licensed in the state of Iowa you can be certain that your last will has been properly executed.