A West Palm Beach will contest challenges whether the document offered for probate is a valid will. The contestants can raise any matter tending to show that the will is not valid and should be denied probate. Did you know that a will may be partially invalidated through a West Palm Beach will contest if only part of the will was obtained through duress, fraud, undue influence, mistake, insane delusion or amended with lack of testamentary capacity. Learn more about how to turn your West Palm Beach will contest into a victory.
When Can I File a Will Contest?
- A personal representative must promptly publish a notice of administration in the county which the estate is being administer (Palm Beach).
- The representative then must serve the spouse and all heirs / beneficiaries then known.
- After service a party has three months or ninety days after the date of service to contest the will.
- What happens if you miss the deadline?
- Your claim is barred in West Palm Beach the courts do not favor those that sleep on their rights.
Lack of Testamentary Capacity
- One of the most common ways to contest a will in West Palm Beach is to claim lack of testamentary capacity.
- To have capacity in West Palm Beach a testator must be either 18 (at the time of execution), older or be an emancipated minor.
- The testator must be able to understand (i) the nature and extent of his property (ii) the persons who are the natural objects of his bounty and (iii) the nature of the dispositions being made.
- Even being declared incompetent is not enough to prove lack of capacity as a person could have executed the will during a lucid moment.
- The burden is on the person claiming lack of capacity to so prove it to the court.
Insane Delusions
- Insane delusion is a form of incapacity in which the testator spontaneously conceives as a fact something that has no truth except in their imagination.
- To be an insane delusion the conception must be persistently adhered to against all evidence and reason without evidence of any kind to support it.
- In other words it must have no foundation in reality and spring from a disease of the mind.
- Do you see how this varies from a mere illogical belief?