Mistake or Fraud Legally Invalidating a Will
An individual may contest a will if they suspect that the will contains an impactful mistake or was fraudulently executed or proven. Will contests based on mistake or fraud often overlap with other bases for contesting a will.
Mistake
An individual contesting a will (sometimes called a “contestant”) because of a mistake may assert that a mistake in the will should be addressed by the probate court or should render the will invalid. A testator may have made a mistake in concluding what or how much property they owned or believing that a close relative was dead when they were actually still living. Such a mistake may have a large effect on the ultimate distribution of assets.
However, most courts are reluctant to revise a will that was properly executed, even if it appears that it contains a mistake. Exceptions may exist in state law. Some states prescribe limited situations under which a court may invalidate or deviate from a will when there is evidence that a provision was affected by a mistake of law or fact. Separate avenues of legal relief exist for an individual who believes that they were harmed by a lawyer’s mistake while drafting the will. An individual who wishes to challenge a will based on a mistake should seek advice from a lawyer experienced in probate law. Another way to address a mistake in a will may be to contest the will based on undue influence or a lack of testamentary capacity.
Fraud
An individual may also contest a will on the grounds that the will or documents used to prove the will are fraudulent. As with mistake, a will contest based on fraud may overlap with other bases for contesting a will, such as undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity, or improper execution. For example, a will disinheriting a testator’s children and signed by a testator fraudulently led to believe that their children had abandoned them may be invalidated due to undue influence as well as fraud.
Fraud may also occur if another individual forged the testator’s signature on the will, the testator did not know that the document that they were signing was a will, or an individual fraudulently altered the will. A contestant may also allege that any documents used to prove a will, such as a self-proving affidavit, are fraudulent, thereby invalidating the will unless it can otherwise be legally proven.
