Expert warns that contesting a will can cost you money and family relationships
| Published date | 06 July 2021 |
| Date | 06 July 2021 |
| Publication title | Daily Star: Web Edition Articles (England) |
One of the biggest reasons that family members argue over will may due to the complicated nature of certain family ties, especially if the person involved has been divorced.
Furthermore, rising property prices make it more appealing for people to contest wills if property is involved, as more money is at stake.
The death of a loved one is an emotional time for everyone, and this can lead to all sorts of simmering resentments that can rise to the surface., causing irreparable damage to relationships.
Furthermore, stubbornly demanding what you believe is fair in court can cost you more than your relationships with your siblings, cost thousands of pounds in out-of-pocket court fees, according to the Mirror.
“Wills disputes are not only about whether the will is valid or not,” says Paul Hewitt, a partner in the trust, estate, and inheritance disputes team at Withers.
“It might be because of broken promises or because the will makes insufficient provision for a child or cohabiting partner. Sometimes one child will have helped their parents out financially.
“There’s been a definite and significant increase in wills disputes. When I started out 22 years ago, only a handful of people specialised in this area but now there is an association of contentious probate lawyers with several hundred members.
The emotional aspect is “pretty critical. Grief makes it very hard to act rationally and see the other point of view, especially if there have been years of pent-up resentment,” Paul says.
During his career, Paul has come across a pair of millionaire brothers, both in their fifties, who loathed each other. Their list of grievances, intended to be included in legal documents for a lawsuit, began with the accusation that one threw a snooker ball at the other when they were aged three and seven years old.
In another case, a mother wrote a will leaving everything equally to her three children. One of the daughters, who resented her brother’s success, persuaded the mother to disinherit him in a second will.
When the mother died, however, the other sister sided with the brother to challenge the will. The court ruled the mother had lacked capacity at the time of the second will and the sister, rather than inheriting one-third of her mother’s estate, ended up with nothing as well as a huge bill for legal...
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