Can You Challenge a Codicil But Not Invalidate the Underlying Will?

Have you been disinherited through an amendment to a   West Palm Beach will? If you can invalidate the amendment, will the actual will still hold up in Palm Beach probate court? If you are concerned about being disinherited you may need to consider a will contest. Want to learn how? Check out a recent case out of Tennessee that shows what happens when you cannot prove the case.

Codicils

• Do you know what a codicil to a West Palm Beach will is?
• Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators know that these documents are used to amend and alter valid wills.
• So what happens when a codicil is executed after a party has lost testamentary capacity?
• When you challenge a codicil it is still called a will contest.
• Are you prepared to contest a codicil?
• It may be your only way to get that inheritance if you have been disinherited through the codicil but have an entitlement under the will.
• Of course you may be able to inherit through intestate succession through West Palm Beach probate court’s use of the rules of intestate succession.

Will Contests

• Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators know that wills are not perfect.
• If a will has fatal defects then it may be invalid on its face and never admitted to the court.
• Sometimes though you will need an experienced Boynton Beach litigator to show the court what is wrong with the will.
• When an interested party challenges a will in court this is called a will contest.

In re Estate of Malugin

• This was a will contest case.
• A decedent executed a will in 2006 and then executed a codicil to that will in 2012.
• The amendments disinherited the appellant in the new codicil.
• The Appellant alleged that the amendment was invalid for two reasons.
• Can you guess what they contested the will on?
• Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators know that undue influence and lack of testamentary capacity are the two common ways people challenge wills.
• The appellant was unable to prove his case so he appealed only to lose again.
• Are you prepared to prove your case in West Palm Beach court?

Want to learn more?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.