What You Need to Know When A Sibling Contests A Parent’s Will

It goes without saying that the death of a parent is one of the most complicated times in your life, and this loss can lead to significant riffs among siblings. Unfortunately, the distribution of assets can be one reason that causes conflict between you and your siblings.

Can You Contest a Will for Any Reason?

You need to understand the grounds of a will and what it means to challenge the validity of this document. If a sibling believes that there are reasons to classify the will as invalid, he or she can initiate a will contest.

A last will is a legal document that cannot be easily overturned without significant proof indicating that there are reasons to invalidate the will. This means that just because your sibling contests the will doesn’t mean he or she will be successful. Furthermore, contesting a will is time consuming and expensive, and it might just take your sibling meeting with a probate dispute lawyer to understand the stakes involved to make another decision.

Who Can Contest a Will?

Wills can only be contested by children, spouses or people who are mentioned in the will or a previous version of the will. When any one of these individuals notifies the court of a will contest, the official legal procedure will begin.

A sibling or anyone else cannot have the will overturned or thrown out simply because he or she believes it’s unfair, they’re mad at you personally, because the parent verbally stated they would do something different, or because they feel left out. If there is a valid legal question about the legality of the will, this is the only time that a sibling is able to challenge the process under which the will was created or the document itself.

A last will and testament is assumed to be valid by the probate court, so long as it is submitted in the proper format and has no will contest associated with it. You may need to retain your own probate dispute attorney if you have to fight back against a sibling who is arguing that the will is invalid.

Need help with your estate planning? Talk to a Virginia estate planning attorney now.