Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
I have a few questions about contesting a will that I would greatly appreciate answers to before making a final decision on whether to go through with it or not.I have read many articles stating the grounds to contest a will, and I definitely have reasons to do so. The will does not have a no-contest clause.
My general question is, who pays?
Can you please inform me of what the cost would be to me if I contest the will because I have limited resources? Would I need to hire a lawyer to 'initially' contest the will or can I do this on my own without any cost? If my objective is to have the will found invalid, would that process then require a lawyer, and if so, what would that approximate expense be?
If I were to not be successful in this contest, would I then be responsible to pay for all court costs and lawyer fees etc. for the estate?
Thanks so much.
1 Answer from Attorneys
It really depends. The rule when I was in law school was to do a will contest only if your client (the challenging party) would get a better result under the rules of intestate succession. You don't provide any factual information along those lines, so it is impossible to give you a suggestion.
Thus if you would get $50,000 under the will, but nothing under intestate succession, I would suggest that a will contest was not in your best interest. Just because something can be challenged, doesn't mean it should be. I don't object to my opponent's testimony, when it is helping my case, just because it violates one of the rules of evidence.
With respect to how much it will cost for an attorney to do a will contest, some attorney's do a will contest on contingency basis, but again, that depends on the contingency that you would get if it were successful, meaning the distribution in an intestate setting.
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