Contested Wills in Walla Walla, Washington

Find the right Contested Wills attorney in Walla Walla, WA

The laws of Walla Walla, Washington authorize certain people to challenge, or "contest" the validity of a 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 really true or not.

You should remember that a will contest commonly 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 Walla Walla, Washington?

There are many reasons that a Walla Walla, Washington court might hold a will to be 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.

A will can also be rejected because the decedent was not mentally competent to draft it at the it was made. A court will look at the person's mental capacity at the time the will was made, so even if the testator is now perfectly sane, if he or she was incapacitated for whatever reason (by way of intoxication, for example) at the time the will was made, the will can still be invalidated.

If a Walla Walla, Washington 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 Walla Walla, Washington 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 brilliant lawyer in Walla Walla, Washington 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 Walla Walla

With a population of just over 30,000 residents, Walla Walla, Washington is one of the larger cities in the state of Washington. Located four hours from the state capital of Seattle, Walla Walla has colleges, vineyards, and other fun aspects of the city to make it a great place to work and play. Walla Walla is located only thirteen miles from the Oregon border. In addition to being home to Whitman College, the city also has a community college and a specialty school. Interestingly enough, the community college in Walla Walla has classes in all aspects of the booming wine industry in the city, which helps keep the businesses local. Walla Walla wine industry generates over million in revenue to the city every year. Other big products that come out of Walla Walla are wheat and sweet corn. Walla Walla, Washington is also home to some great lawyers. Lawyers in Walla Walla are trained in any legal issue his or her client may be dealing with and happy to help use their knowledge to solve a problem. From lawyers to wine makers to university professors, Walla Walla is a city that attracts amazing professional talent.

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