5 Things Palm Beach Probate Beneficiaries Need to Know About Objecting to a Florida Will (will contests in Palm Beach)

Will challenges Palm Beach seem to happen with increasing frequency.  A rich, even a wealthy, relative from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida passes away and you get something in the mail from a probate lawyer Jupiter, Florida.  After you read the will, you learn that you have been cut out of the estate.  But your wealthy aunt always promised you an inheritance and you note that her regularestate lawyer from Boca Raton was not involved in this last will.  You have questions and you are not getting answers.  Your friends tell you to hire a probate litigation law firm and file a will contest Palm Beach. 

Here are 5 tips or 5 things that probate beneficiaries need to know about will contests in Florida.  Or, put another way 5 things family members need to know about will challenges Palm Beach.

1. A will challenge lawsuit needs evidence.  Who’s your first witness?  What documents are you introducing at your probate trial?  You can’t get up there on a hunch.  You wanted your day in court because you got dis-inherited from the Palm Beach probate, so here you go………..remember, a will contest Palm Beach is not about you being upset or disgruntled: it’s about facts which prove why the will submitted to probate isnot valid.  What’s your will contest trial strategy Florida?  How do you prove and winyour will challenge case in Palm Beach County?
2. Any Florida will, or any PART of a Florida will, which was caused by undue influenceis void.  Remember, an entire will can be invalid, or only a part of a will can be invalid.  So, what’s your will challenge game plan?  How do you attack the Florida will or what part of the Florida will is not valid?  Ask any probate litigator Boca Raton and they will tell you that attacking only part of a will can be problematic. Does it make more sense for you to attack the entire will?
3. Undue influence can win your case.  Your will challenge can be successful if you prove that 1) the new or main beneficiary of the Palm Beach probate was the one whoobtained the will and 2) was in a confidential relationship with the person who just died.  Undue influence is force or coercion or pressure to sign a will.  So ask the right questions in your will challenge.  Who hired the probate lawyer to write the will?  Who paid the estate lawyer?  Who told the lawyer who wrote the will what to put in the will?  Was the bad person present at the will signing? Did the undue influencer keep the original will?
4. Lack of mental capacity.   If your rich relative was suffering for Alzheimers or dementia, did he or she have the correct, legal mental capacity to know that she or he was signing a will?  Did the relative know that she or he was cutting you out of the estate?  Lack of mental capacity to understand the will can help you win your will contest caseand have the will which disinherits you declared void.
5. Attorneys fees. Remember that in Palm Beach probates, there are fee shifting statutes which can make the losing side of a will contest Florida pay the winner all their attorneys fees and costs. So talk to your will challenge litigator about the risks and rewards of going to trial, including how much money you could lose if you lose your will challenge case.  You may want to have an option to settle: like probatemediation.