will contests Flashcards
will contest concerns
- standing
- lack of testamentary capacity
- insane delusion
- undue influence
- disinheritance clause
will contest concerns
standing
Any person who would take more 1) as heir if there were no will OR 2) as beneficiary under a prior will
will contest concerns
lack of testamentary capacity
Burden of proof on contestants
The test:
1. Did T understand the nature of the act he was doing?
2. Did T know the nature and character of his property?
3. Did T know the natural objects of his bounty?
4. Did T understand the disposition he wished to make?
will contest concerns
lack of testamentary capacity
Evidence of T’s capacity
Evidence of T’s capacity must relate to the circumstances AT THE TIME THE WILL WAS EXECUTED or shortly before or shortly thereafter. The more distant in time, the less significance it has on the whether T had capacity at the time the will was executed.
Old age, physical frailty, sickness, failing memory or vacillating judgment are not inconsistent with testamentary capacity if the testamentary prerequisites were possessed by T.
will contest concerns
lack of testamentary capacity
prior adjudication as incompetent
If T had been adjudicated incompetent and a guardian appointed, this is evidence of lack of capacity BUT it does not raise a conclusive presumption (will not support directed verdict).
Reasons:
1. Test for whether a guardian should be appointed is DIFFERENT from the 4-point test for testamentary capacity
2. Even if T had a mental problem, the jury could find that T wrote the will during a lucid interval
will contest concerns
insane delusion
A distinct form of testamentary capacity.
Where T is otherwise sane, but the will (or a gift in the will) is a product of an insane delusion (having no basis in fact or reason), which T adheres against all reason and evidence, and where the will (or gift in the will) is the product of the insane delusion.
will contest concerns
undue influence
Burden of proof is on contestants, who must show:
1. Existence and exertion of the influence
2. Effect is to overpower the mind and will of the testator
3. The result is a will that would not have been executed but for the influence.
Influence is not undue UNLESS the free agency of the testator was destroyed AND a will produced that expresses the will of the one exerting the influence and not of T.
will contest concerns
undue influence
circumstantial evidence (not enough)
Mere opportunity to influence.
Mere susceptibility to influence due to illness, age. Such evidence does not by itself establish that T’s mind was in fact subverted and overpowered.
Mere fact of unnatural disposition - that some children take less than others or are excluded entirely. It is only where all reasonable explanation for the devise is lacking that the trier of facts may take this circumstance as a badge of undue influence.
will contest concerns
undue influence
entire will or as to one gift
Undue influence may be shown as to the entire will or as to one gift in the will.
will contest concerns
undue influence
presumptions of undue influence
A presumption of undue influence arises upon a showing that a principal beneficiary under the will who stands in a confidential relationship with T (atty/client, priest/parishioner, doctor/patient) draws or procures the execution of the will.
will contest concerns
undue influence
suspicious circumstances
Suspicious circumstances may also tend to show undue influence.
relative stranger insinuates himself with T when T is susceptible (mental/physical condition or age) and then T writes will that disinherits children.
will contest concerns
no contest clause
Under UPC, a clause in a will providing that a beneficiary forfeits her interest in the estate if she contests the will is valid and will be enforced UNLESS the beneficiary had probable cause for bringing the contest.
