Setting Aside a Will When You Don’t Have the Correct Witnesses–heirs fight life partner of $7 Million NYC brownstone

The New York Times reported recently that  a $7 Million Manhattan Brownstone residential building is at the center of a will contest. The life partner of the deceased person was supposed to inherit a valuable piece of real estate in Manhattan.  In fact, the will says it in black and white.  In fact, that’s where the decedent and his life partner had lived.  For decades. What is the problem at the center of this probate litigation lawsuit?   Is it that the will only had one witness, and New York law evidently requires two witnesses for the will to be valid?

• So, this is what Florida probate litigation law firms call a problem with the “formalities of execution.” 
• At the center of this estate or inheritance lawsuit is one of, generally, 3 ways to set aside a will:  contest it by saying that it was not signed properly, according to probate law.
• Palm Beach estate planning attorneys know that, for a Florida will to be valid, it must, among other things, have been signed in the presence of two witnesses who also sign in the presence of the person making the will. 
• If you fall short, the will won’t be valid and the estate or probate “goes” to family: heirs at law under the intestacy statute.
• To make sure this does not happen to you, consider talking to a good estate planning or probate attorney. 
• Don’t plan your estate alone or by yourself. 
• The truth is that surviving spouses, or widows, and family, heirs at law, have more rights than you can imagine to someone’s estate or probate.