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Proof of broken laws can help you contest a will

On Behalf of | Dec 1, 2020 | Probate |

You know that the conditions surrounding your family member’s will in Florida are inaccurate. There is evidence that despite containing a signature, the absence of some critical aspects may have compromised its legality.

When you have evidence of broken laws throughout the process of legalizing your family member’s will, you can contest its validity.

Lack of awareness

Deceptive practices to get someone to sign a will in favor of specific circumstances is not lawful. According to Policy Genius, if your family member signed the will because of trickery, the will lacks validity in a court of law. Often, in these situations, someone stood to benefit something by tricking your family member into signing off on specific agreements even if it was not in the best interest of everyone else.

Incapacitation may have reduced your family member’s ability to make informed and accurate decisions which could compromise the will and render it invalid. Even with a signature, if you have proof of deception, your case for contesting a will may gain significant traction.

Lack of vigilance

Sometimes a will lacks validity simply because the testator overlooked critical details required to legalize their final wishes. For example, your family member may have forgotten that their will requires two valid witness signatures.

If your family member updated or changed aspects of their will during their lifetime, a new document that includes all of the changes will need to replace the original. To legalize the updated will, it also requires two witnesses to sign it. You can contest a will if the updated version lacks witness signatures to prove that the testator approved the changes.