Contested Wills in Evansville, Indiana

Find the right Contested Wills attorney in Evansville, IN

In Evansville, Indiana there are specific procedures authorizing certain people to challenge the validity of a will. This is identified as a "will contest" or "contested will."

Sometimes, 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 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 directly true or not.

You should remember that a will contest frequently results in adversarial legal proceedings, which can be very contentious. 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 Evansville, Indiana?

There are several reasons that an Evansville, Indiana court might hold a will to be invalid.

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. Typically, 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 severely intoxicated, the will is likely to be held invalid by a court, if the underlying facts can be proven.

If the contest is successful, a court in Evansville, Indiana might find the will or part of it invalid. Of course, that leaves the question of how to distribute the property in the absence of a valid will. All states have laws that address this situation, typically passing the property to the decedent's closest living kin. All states have laws governing the order in which property is passed on in this manner. Normally, it goes to the spouse first. If there is no living spouse, it goes to the children. If there are no children, it goes to the decedent's parents, and so on. Most laws on this subject are written in such a way that almost everyone will have at least one relative entitled to inherit, even if that person is very distantly related to the decedent. In the very rare case where no living relatives exist, or none can be found, the decedent's assets usually go to the state.

Can a Evansville, Indiana Contested Will Attorney Help?

Contesting a will can be a convoluted, emotional, expensive, and time-consuming process. There is really no way around this. However, a knowledgeable Evansville, Indiana wills and estates attorney can minimize these problems, and make the process as painless as possible.

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

Life in Evansville

Evansville is located in Southern Indiana and is nicknamed the "River City" because it creates a "horseshoe-like bend" on the Ohio River.

The National Civic League named Evansville the "All-American City" in 2004 because of its diversity, stable economy and vitality. In 2008, it was voted the best city in the county to live in by Kiplinger.

Popular attractions include the Angel Mounds Historic Museum, the Mesker Park Zoo, the Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve and the annual Evansville Freedom Festival.

Many large corporations have their headquarters in Evansville. Such corporations include Accuride, Atlas Van lines, Mead Johnson, Old National Bank, Berry Plastics, and Vectren. AK Steel and Toyota also have manufacturing plants there. Overall, the city is pro-business. Therefore, the legal force in Indiana is present and capable of handling all the legal needs of these corporations, as well as Evansville residents.

Overall Evansville is seen as a great place to live.

Clients Rate LegalMatch Attorneys
(click to read reviews)

Regel B.
Regel B.

Wills, Trusts and Estates

Caldwell, LA

Brad M.
Brad M.

Wills, Trusts and Estates

Sussex, NJ

David L.
David L.

Wills, Trusts and Estates

Ashland, OH