Contested Wills in Columbus, Indiana

Find the right Contested Wills attorney in Columbus, IN

In Columbus, Indiana there are particular procedures permitting certain people to challenge the validity of a will. This is recognized as a "will contest" or "contested will."

Occasionally, when a person who expected to be included in a will is left out, their natural assumption is that there was some mistake, or that the will was made through improper means, such as duress or fraud, or that the will is an outright forgery.

If a lot of money, or some specifically 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.

You should remember that a will contest commonly results in adversarial legal proceedings, which can be very combative. Considering the likelihood that other members of your family might be on the other side, it's clear that this can really damage a person's relationship with his or her family.

When Can a Will be Contested in Columbus, Indiana?

There are many reasons that a court in Columbus, Indiana might invalidate a will.

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.

Another thing to consider is the mental capacity of the person making the will. If, at the time the will was made, the testator was insane or heavily intoxicated, the will is likely to be held invalid by a court, if the underlying facts can be shown.

If a Columbus, Indiana will is successfully challenged and thus invalidated, there has to be some system for orderly distribution of the decedent's property. Normally, if a will is held invalid, all of the property will be treated as if the decedent had never written or will. This means that it goes to the decedent's closest living relative, or, if there are not relatives who can be located, the state.

Can a Columbus, Indiana Contested Will Attorney Help?

Because this can involve complicated legal issues, and be very emotionally draining, this is not something you want to go at alone. A seasoned lawyer in Columbus, Indiana can be very helpful in making sure that this process goes as smoothly as possible.

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

Life in Columbus

Columbus is located in Indiana's Bartholomew County. Specifically it is 40 miles from Indianapolis and on the east fork on the White River. Columbus is the twentieth largest city in Indiana. It is also ranked eleven on the U.S.'s safest cities to live in.

The largest employer in Columbus is Cummins, Inc. In fact, GQ Magazine included Columbus in its "62 Reasons to Love Your Country" article.

Some popular attractions include the Miller House, Otter Creek Golf Course, First Baptist Church, and the Large Arch sculpture by Henry Moore.

Famous residents include Stevie Brown, Lee H. Hamilton, Jeff Osterhage, Jill Tasker, Herbert Wright, and Bob Paris.

Columbus is also home to many attorneys and law firms that practice in any and every field of law.

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