In re Estate of Morgan, Illinois Appeals Case, Am I an “Interested Party” to Contest a Will?

Do you know what is necessary to contest a will in Palm Beach Florida?  Is it enough to know that a will is a fraud?You also have to be an interested party, but what does that mean? In order to find out you may want to hear what the Appellate Court of Illinois had to say about what constitutes aninterested party.

Interested Party

• An interested party in a Delray Beach will contest is a party with standing to object to a will being admitted into probate.
• But what does that even mean?
• Obviously if you are an heir or beneficiary under the terms of a will you constitute aninterested party.
• You may be an interested party if there is a will that if invalidated would make you abeneficiary of a prior will this is known as being a legatee under a prior will wrongfully revoked.
• What about if you would inherit through intestate succession (succession in the absence of a last will and testament)?
• Then you are probably also an interested party because if you can have the will set aside, you would inherit through intestate succession.
• What about everyone else?
• Can they challenge the will?

In re Estate of Morgan

• On April 14, 2015 the Illinois Appellate Court released its opinion in the case of In re Estate of Morgan.
• The case was an appeal from a dismissal of a will contest.
• The plaintiffs were relatives of the deceased and contested a will but they were not beneficiaries under any alternative will nor would they inherit under intestate succession.
• The court held that they were not interested parties and thus could not sue to set aside the will.
• Do you agree?
• If your loved one’s estate was being fraudulently administered wouldn’t you want to stop that even if you were not set to inherit?
• Apparently the answer is to bad, because you are not an interested party.
• Palm Beach probate litigators know that there are creative ways around this for instance, a relative could talk an interested party into suing and even helping them collect evidence/ retain an attorney.

Want to learn even more? Check out the entire case by clicking here.