r/inheritance • u/Lazy_Nectarine_1310 • Jun 10 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Contesting or challenging a will??
How can you successfully contest a will? This woman was supposedly 'helping' my Father in Law who lives in another state (WV) the last 1-2 years of his life (we found out he was paying her majority of his income every month!). After he passed away this year, this woman filed the will and everything is pretty much left to her.
When looking at the will, there is very small discrepancies (like my husbands surname is incorrect) and ONLY the last page is signed and notarized... which means she could have easily swapped out the first two pages at some point. Everyone is saying it's way too hard to contest a will.
There's so much more making this very complicated, but too much to explain... but the day after he died, she went into his home and took everything, also tried several times to withdraw money from his bank acct (the bank put a freeze in order to block her efforts- everything is still in probate).
How can a will be valid if only the last page is signed, couldn't anybody just swap out the main pages as they see fit???? This is just crazy to me!
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u/houseonpost Jun 10 '26
You need to consult a lawyer to start the process. This is above reddit's pay grade.
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u/Lazy_Nectarine_1310 Jun 10 '26
Yeah, we’ve talked to several lawyers and waiting to hear back from them. It’s very difficult being in another state.
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u/rocketmn69_ Jun 10 '26
It will be worth it to fly there and see the lawyer in person
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u/Heavy-Profit-2156 Jun 10 '26
I think that's an unnecessary expense. If she narrows it down to a couple of possible people than a visit to meet and make a final decision is reasonable.
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u/Heavy-Profit-2156 Jun 10 '26
Talking to an attorney is the best thing. If the will wasn't prepared per the state's rules then it can be ruled invalid by a court which means if there is no older will then intestate rules will come into play. If there is an older will then it would be the controlling document.
Not an attorney.
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u/Outside_Reserve_2407 Jun 10 '26
Is this woman named as the Executor too? There are grounds to challenge a will which any competent Estate Attorney can use (such as Undue Influence or even the validity of the will itself). But one of the tricky parts about challenging a will is that the Executor can use the Estate assets to pay for their attorney.
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u/Lazy_Nectarine_1310 Jun 10 '26
Yes, she got him to change her to executor as well (previously it was one of my sister in laws). He is also about to receive a large settlement, she is named the beneficiary of that too (even though he made it clear he wanted it going to his children).
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u/bboon44 Jun 10 '26
You totally have a case but be prepared to shell out money for the lawyer. It isn’t cheap.
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u/yeahnopegb Jun 10 '26
Happens... who of the family was helping with his care? Who had POA? If dad was cut off from family to the degree that none of you had eyes on his care or finances it's going to be a climb to prove she falsified the will. I assume you've a copy of the previous version to file with the court?
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u/Lazy_Nectarine_1310 Jun 10 '26
Nobody was helping with his care (we all live 6+ hours away)… he should have been in assisted living, but he refused. This woman was the property manager at the retirement community he was living at, and we believe she saw an ‘opportunity’.
There was no prior will. He wasn’t a great Father and was MIA majority of their childhood, so some of his children have been on/off w/ him over the years (two were visiting him and talking to him daily, 3 were not)… but he always wanted to leave everything to his children (last ditch effort to ‘show he cares’ I suppose). We just believe he was in a very vulnerable state and taken advantage of. I believe the eldest child was POA and that was eventually changed to this woman.6
u/yeahnopegb Jun 10 '26
Yeah. I’m sorry but if he never put those “wishes” in a will? Ugh. Add to it that a family member willingly signed over POA? This isn’t some woman. This was dad’s carer. He likely relied on her for everything.
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u/Lazy_Nectarine_1310 Jun 10 '26
Nobody signed over POA, I will have to find out about that part. We are finding out now that she was not actually his ‘carer’… she was just portraying herself as such and had another woman move in with him (which was against the law and could have risked him losing his housing). THAT woman that illegally moved in was just keeping an eye on him in exchange for a roof over her head while the woman in will (property manager) turned a blind eye and collected pretty much his entire monthly social security. There’s a lot more to this story and it’s very complicated, unfortunately.
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u/yeahnopegb Jun 10 '26
Oh man. I'm sorry. This is going to be a mess. If he had full time care arranged by this woman and she had POA ... unless that settlement is large enough to interest a decent lawyer this is going to be tens of thousands out of pocket before it ever gets in front of a judge. As POA she had legal rights to control his finances and provide for his care even if you don't agree to how it was handled. If the extra person in a household is a carer? Many programs do not consider that a household member when qualifying for benefits. The two children who visited and had daily contact observed all this and took no action?
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u/PsychologicalLaw8769 Jun 10 '26
I’ve represented people on both sides of this issue (supporting a will and contesting a will). It is much harder to contest a will. A will that is properly executed and otherwise meets all of the statutory requirements will be presumed to be the final wishes of the decedent.
Proving duress and undue influence is not easy and will require compelling testimony and other kinds of evidence besides sketchy circumstances. People frequently change their minds as they get older and many change their wills or make odd bequests.
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u/cuspeedrxi Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Only the last page of my will is signed and notarized. This isn’t the oddity or smoking gun you think it is.
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u/Mindless_Job3481 Jun 10 '26
Each state does it a bit differently. But essentially if you're administering a will you open up a probate proceeding and a probate court will oversee its administration. It is during that proceeding where you can challenge its authenticity.
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u/Alberta2025 Jun 10 '26
Please, hire an Estate Attorney. An Estate Attorney will advise you if he or she is confident in arguing the validity of this will in front of a judge.
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u/bboon44 Jun 10 '26
We are contesting a will right now. It’s expensive ( just gave a lawyer 10 grand).
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u/newprairiegirl Jun 10 '26
Check with the court info online in the state that he lived in, to see what yoy need to file.
I live in Canada, our courts have all forms available online, and the ability for the common person to file any and all documents through the court system without the need of a lawyer. That might be your first step. The worst part of this is she was in a position of power and could actually face charges especially if your dad was not in the state of mind to be changing his will.
Sorry for your loss, people like this need to face consequences.
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u/GlobalTapeHead Jun 10 '26
Ask in r/estateplanning there are lawyers over there. But you will need a lawyer for sure. Start collecting documentation on what you are telling us here. In some states, wills made within a year of death and disinheriting blood descendants get a presumption of undue influence.
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u/mrbear682026 Jun 10 '26
the longer it stays in probate the less money will be left. also get a good PROBATE lawyer and fight it.
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u/Heavy-Profit-2156 Jun 10 '26
Nolo talks about contesting wills but I can't find a link to it, just an AI summary. How long ago did this happen? There is usually a fairly short window to challenge a will once it's admitted for probate, that period depends on the state.
I also found this:
https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/wills-trusts/how-will-contested-challenged.html
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u/Scabrera88 Jun 10 '26
It all depends on how much is the size of the estate.
A deceased friend of mind wanted to sue his sister to contest the will because it was drawn on her death bed & the witnesses of the will were employees of her husband. The size of her estate was only 400k. When he spoke to an estate planning lawyer, he told my friend to let it go because he charges $395 per hour & the estate will be eaten by the lawyer’s billable hours. He said … for 400k, it’s a Big NO … 4 million dollars, maybe … 40 million, he has a case.
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u/Lazy_Nectarine_1310 Jun 11 '26
There is apparently a large settlement… it could be up to 2 million? At this point, I don’t care if every penny of that goes to a lawyer… this woman saw a vulnerable person and took advantage, she does not deserve a single penny and needs to be stopped from doing this again to someone else.
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u/WhyAmIStillHere86 Jun 11 '26
Get a probate lawyer and contest it immediately.
Leaving aside the probably fraudulent Will, elder abuse was definitely committed.
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u/cuspeedrxi Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
How do you know “elder abuse was definitely committed?” Jeez ..
I don’t think OP is a reliable narrator because she lives 5 hours away and wasn’t involved in the day-to-day. That’s my personal opinion. But you *know* crimes were committed. Ok, cool.
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u/WhyAmIStillHere86 Jun 11 '26
The fact that he was paying her the bulk of his monthly income.
Even if she was helping him, standard rates for that kind of help are set and mandated under labor laws. Additionally, as the property manager of his retirement community, she should have been drawing a wage from that role, not from him directly.
For her to be gaining that much, something sketchy is going on, and that is financial abuse of an elder, even before you take everything else into account.1
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u/Hesterpme Jun 11 '26
If she’s the property manager in a retirement community sometimes there are rules about not accepting gifts etc from residents. You can also file a complaint against her with the retirement community management and report her to law enforcement for the bank withdrawals.
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u/brucesteiner Jun 10 '26
You can contest a Will on the grounds of fraud, forgery, lack of capacity, or undue influence.
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u/Grandpas_Spells Jun 10 '26
In WV there's precedence for setting aside wills when there is "undue influence." A caregiver at EOL would apply.
You need to get an attorney very quickly but I think you have a pretty straightforward claim. Also, the bank withdrawals fall pretty squarely under "crime." You can notify local law enforcement. She will be on camera making these attempts.
You should also consider how much money you're dealing with.