There are a number of grounds on which a Will can be contested, or challenged. But before we explore these in this legal guide, and our accompanying legal guides Who Can Contest a Will and How to Contest a Will, it is vital to remember that if you think you do have a reason to make a claim you should take legal advice as soon as possible for a number of key reasons:
Grounds – legal not emotional
You cannot contest a Will based on raw emotion or because you don’t like how the assets have been distributed. You must have valid legal reasons to contest a Will.
Invalid Wills
A Will must fulfil certain legal and procedural requirements to be deemed legally valid. It may be declared invalid for reasons including:
The Will was not properly executed
To be valid, a Will must comply with strict legal requirements under the Wills Act 1837, meeting one or more of the following criteria:
There is a legal assumption that a Will has been validly executed unless there is evidence to the contrary as outlined above.
The testator lacked testamentary capacity.
In order to make a valid Will, the testator must be considered to be of a ‘sound mind’ according to principles established in the 1870 case of Banks v Goodfellow. These state that the person making the Will must:
If you think any of the above are true, it could be the starting point for contesting a Will, but you have to be able to produce evidence that the testator was not mentally capable of making a Will at the time.
This evidence needs to be in the form of medical or psychiatric assessments from experts, the testator’s own medical records and testimonies from witnesses who had contact with the testator at the time the Will was made proving the testator had a condition which affected them when making their Will. This might be a long term degenerative illness or drug or alcohol use.
The testator lacked knowledge or approval of the Will they were signing
It’s possible that although someone has full testamentary capacity, they did not know, and therefore could not approve, the contents of a Will they put their name to. This might be because:
If any of these apply, it must be proved that the testator knew and understood the content of their Will.
There is evidence of undue influence
If the testator was forced to make a Will, it is invalid. Demonstrating this means proving there was coercion, manipulation, deception or intimidation by someone to put pressure on the testator to influence the content of the Will in their favour when it was made. This includes things like using threats, physical violence and telling lies.
This is a key reason for contesting a Will but for undue influence to be proved, the Court has to conclude that the testator was likely to have thought: “This is not what I want but I have no choice.”
Fraudulent or forged Wills
If you believe a Will has been forged, or the signature has been forged, or some other fraud has taken place, it may be grounds for claiming the Will is invalid. Unfortunately, it is usually very difficult to prove fraud and often very expensive too.
Challenging, rather than contesting a Will
It could be that a Will is perfectly legal and legitimate, but although you can’t contest it, you can challenge it if you are not happy with certain provisions made within it.
Lack of financial provision made for dependants in the Will
When certain categories of people feel they have not been sufficiently provided for under the terms of a Will or intestacy, a claim for reasonable financial provision can be made under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
A dependant is defined as anyone who the testator was maintaining financially (or had an obligation to) at the time of their death. Usually, claimants are surviving spouses, cohabitees, children or people treated as a close family relative but it is always worth checking to see whether you may be able to claim.
Recently, the courts have shown a greater willingness to allow claims, even where a claimant was not being financially supported by the testator at the time of death.
But they promised me…
Proprietary Estoppel is a legal challenge you can use if you feel someone gave you assurances in their lifetime that you would inherit land or property but then didn’t honour this in their Will. If a promise like this was not fulfilled, and you were left at a disadvantage as a result, it could be a legitimate challenge.
Challenging the competency or conduct of executors
If you have an issue with the way executors, trustees or personal representatives appointed in the Will are acting, even if you don’t dispute the legitimacy of the Will itself or its contents, you may be able to challenge their conduct or competency.
Other grounds
These include:
For help and advice about contesting a Will, please contact Wards Solicitors’ Probate Disputes team.