When you create your will, probably one of the reasons you do is to make things easier for your loved ones. But what happens if one of your current or potential heirs makes a claim against the estate? The most common kind of claim against an estate is a will challenge in which an interested party says that the will is invalid for one or more reasons.
As you draft your estate planning documents, it is natural to wonder about how you can protect your heirs in the future from delays in the probate process, such as those associated with a will contest. It’s important to recognize that not everyone is able to contest a will. Only an entity or a person who has appropriate standing can contest a will.
If a party has standing, it means that the party involved in bringing that lawsuit would also be affected personally by the case outcome. For an estate, this could be a beneficiary named in the decedent’s prior will or an intestate heir. With regard to an entity, such as a bank or another organization, this entity must have been named as a fiduciary or a beneficiary in the previous will.
If the person does not have standing to initiate a will contest, they are not able to do so. Consult with your experienced estate planning attorney about ways that you can protect your interests when drafting a will to minimize the possibility of a will contest in the future. The support of an experienced lawyer can help make it easier for your loved ones to receive the assets you intended sooner rather than later. Set aside time to speak with an experienced and talented lawyer in Michigan today.