Legal Grounds for
Contesting a Will

• Is the Will valid?
• Does the Will make proper provision for you and your dependents?
• Have the Executors or Trustees behaved improperly  or unreasonably?
• Has the Solicitor been negligent in preparing the Will?
• Has the Solicitor been negligent in Administering the Estate?
• Is there a dispute about who owns the property  referred to in the Will?
• Is there some other problem?

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Professional Negligence

Sometimes the grounds for contesting a Will go back to the circumstances surrounding the signature or the Will itself, or to the point where the Solicitor involved was taking instructions from the testator and drawing up the terms of the Will.

It is sometimes the case that the Solicitor is negligent in not taking proper instructions from the testator.

The result may be that the testator wanted a particular person to benefit under the Will but the Solicitor has not reflected this in the terms of the Will itself. The Will simply may not reflect the wishes of the deceased.

The Will may be drawn up in terms that are vague and imprecise so that it is difficult to construe or detrimental to the people who should properly benefit under the Will.

Sometimes, an action contesting a Will can be brought because the proper formalities were not observed when the Will was signed or simply because the solicitor delayed in drawing up a Will until it was too late and the would-be testator dies before having an opportunity to make a proper Will.

In such cases, contesting a Will is one option and the other is to bring an action against the Solicitor involved for damages caused by their negligence.

Also, beneficiaries can bring a claim if the Solicitor (or perhaps investment advisors or bank) do not invest the Estate proceeds promptly or appropriately or otherwise deal negligently with the Estate assets.