Occasionally, family members of a recently-deceased person in Ada, Oklahoma will attempt to claim that a will is invalid, normally because it leaves them out of it. This process is called a "Will contest."

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 the decedent was fairly well-off, their will might involve a great deal of money or property. This is one of the basic reasons, besides a general sense of exclusion, that a family member might expend the great deal of time and money necessary to contest a will.

As with the initiation of any other legal proceeding, contesting a will is a big decision. It can be time-consuming and expensivee. It also has the possibility to damage family relationships and foster strife among people who are already mourning the loss of a loved one.

When Can a Will be Contested in Ada, Oklahoma?

Of course, an Ada, Oklahoma court will not invalidate a will without a very good reason, but there are some instances which render a will clearly invalid.

For example, if the will was obtained through duress (threat of some kind of harm), then it is invalid. Duress, however, is difficult to prove. If a named beneficiary was in some position of power or trust with the decedent, and is not someone who one would ordinarily expect to get a large gift in a will, that might raise considerable initial suspicion of something improper happening. Of course, those facts alone are not nearly enough to prove duress.

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 an Ada, Oklahoma will is successfully challenged and therefore 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 Ada, Oklahoma 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 Ada, Oklahoma attorney, and the process will probably be much more manageable.