Contested Wills in San Mateo, California

Find the right Contested Wills attorney in San Mateo, CA

In San Mateo, California, there is a procedure through which a person can challenge the validity of a will. This is recognized as a "contested will" or "will contest."

There are many reasons why a person might want to contest a will made by a close family member. Sometimes, people will decide to leave money or property to charity, or to other entities who are not closely related. If their family members weren't expecting this, they might assume that something went wrong with the drafting of the will.

If a lot of money, or some particularly valuable property, is at stake, the person who was left out might want to go to court and allege that the will was invalid. When left out of a will, a family member might naturally assume that some kind of mistake has been made, whether this is really true or not.

Like any legal matter, however, this should not be taken lightly. Will contests can foster conflict and strife within families who are already mourning a loved one. This can cause severe and irreversible damage to family relationships.

When Can a Will be Contested in San Mateo, California?

Courts in San Mateo, California will not let a person contest a will unless they have an excellent reason. There are, however, some allegations which will always invalidate a will, if they are proven.

One big reason to invalidate a will is the fact that the will was made under duress. "Duress" simply means forcing somebody to do something they don't want to, using some kind of threat. Normally, the threat involves some type of physical harm. The most obvious example would involve putting a gun to somebody's head and telling them to write a will containing the terms desired by the gunman. Such a will, assuming the underlying facts can be proven in court, will never be valid. Of course, the validity of a will rarely becomes an issue until the testator has died, which may be years after the will was drafted. This means that proving the circumstances under which the will was made can often be very difficult. However, there are certain facts, such as the devise being to an "unnatural" beneficiary (somebody the testator didn't know very well, for instance), and the beneficiary being in a position of power over the decedent, are enough to at least create a suspicion that something is wrong.

Because a testator must know what they are doing in order to write a valid will, the testator must be of sound mind at the time the will is made. Basically, if a person is unaware of what they're doing, and the consequences of their actions, they can't make a valid will. This can be due to mental illness, or intoxication. Of course, if it's a result of intoxication, the testator can simply sober up and then make a perfectly valid will.

There are many other facts that might make a will invalid, and thus serve as grounds to contest a will. If a will is successfully contested in San Mateo, California, and held to be invalid, this normally results in the property being distributed as if the decedent had died intestate (without a will). This means that it will usually go to the decedent's closest living relative.

Can a San Mateo, California Contested Will Attorney Help?

Contesting a will is often hard, and never fun. However, the whole process can be made more bearable if you have the help of a reliable San Mateo, California attorney, and the process will probably be much more manageable.

Talk to a Wills, Trusts & Estates Law Attorney now!

Life in San Mateo

San Mateo, California is a city in San Mateo County. It has a population of about 100,000 people, making it one of the larger suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Mateo was first settled by Europeans in 1789, when the Spanish established a missionary and military presence in the area now known as San Mateo.

Modernly, the economy of San Mateo, California is driven by education, local government, finance, and retail. The largest employer in San Mateo is the San Mateo County Community College District, which employs over 1,900 people, including several San Mateo, California lawyers.

If you live in San Mateo, California and are in need of legal assistance, it's very likely that there's a good San Mateo, California attorney who can help. Lawyers in San Mateo, California are able to handle a wide range of legal issues.

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