Contested Wills in Santa Clara, California

Find the right Contested Wills attorney in Santa Clara, CA

In Santa Clara, California, there is a procedure through which a person can challenge the validity of a will. This is identified as a "contested will" or "will contest."

There are several 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 directly 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 Santa Clara, California?

Courts in Santa Clara, 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. 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 fact that might invalidate a will is the mental incompetence of the testator. Wills must be a product of a person's volition. A will cannot be really voluntary unless the testator knows what they're doing. Accordingly, if the testator is mentally incompetent at the time he or she makes the will, the will cannot take effect. You should be aware, however, that this test applies at the time the will is made. So, if the testator is not mentally competent at the time of death, but was when the will was made, the will is valid.

If you successfully contest the will in Santa Clara, California, the court will likely distribute the property as if the decedent had died without a will. This usually involves giving it to the closest living relative. While the exact intestacy schemes (the order in which property is distributed to relatives) vary from state to state, they are usually pretty similar. If possible, the property will go to the decedent's spouse, and if the decedent has any minor children with that spouse, it is with the understanding that the money will be used primarily for their care. If the decedent did not have children or a spouse (or outlived them), the property typically goes to the decedent's parents. If neither of them are alive, it goes to grand children, grandparents, or siblings. After that, it typically goes to cousins, nieces/nephews, step-children, former spouses, etc. Intestacy laws provide a line of succession long enough that just about anyone will leave at least one person behind who is entitled to inherit from them, even if they're an extremely distant relation. Sometimes, however, people make multiple wills, to account for the many personal and financial changes that typically happen during a person's life. Typically, the most recent will purports to revoke all past wills, to avoid any conflict between them. In such cases, if a will is entirely invalidated, a court can sometimes revive the second most recent will.

Can a Santa Clara, California Contested Will Attorney Help?

Because a will contest can sometimes involve convoluted legal and factual questions, as well as some very raw emotions, a skilled Santa Clara, California attorney can be invaluable in helping this process go as smoothly as possible.

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

Life in Santa Clara

Santa Clara, California is located in Santa Clara County in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Many advanced technology and semi-conductor companies are headquartered in the city, including Intel, McAfee, Applied Materials, and Agilent Technologies. Sun Microsystems and Oracle are also major employers in the area. The city of Santa Clara owns and operates its own electric utility facility called Silicon Valley Power. As a result, electricity rates are considerably cheaper in Santa Clara.

Aside from its central role in the Silicon Valley semiconductor boom, Santa Clara, California is home to a diverse array of facilities. Buck Shaw Stadium is located in the city, and is home to the Major League Soccer team the San Jose Earthquakes. The San Francisco 49ers holds practices in Santa Clara and is also headquartered there. Great America, a popular amusement park in the Bay Area, is also located in Santa Clara. The city also hosts a number of outdoor events such as the Art Wine Festival in September and Concerts in the Park.

Santa Clara is a major city for lawyers and attorneys, as the Santa Clara County Courthouse maintains a branch in the city. Many lawyers in Santa Clara, California received their legal education at Santa Clara School of Law. Santa Clara lawyers are available to assist clients in a diverse range of legal fields.

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