Disputes of any kind can be a bit of a nightmare, no one really wants to ‘argue the case’ with anything but sometimes it is necessary. When it comes to things like wills, though that can be a really ‘sticky’ area to get involved in, you don’t want to discredit the person who has made the will but if something has been promised then it should be provided in line with what is written in the will.
Why dispute a will?
There are a few reasons that you might dispute a will, one of the main reasons would be that you don’t think that the deceased gave genuine consent to the contents of the will, perhaps they were sick or just extremely old and not able to make clear decisions for themselves.
If there are reasonable grounds to go by, then you could seek the help of a will dispute lawyer in Parramatta that can help you pursue and challenge the existing will in order to get a ‘fairer’ result in terms of payouts. There are laws in place that allow you to contest a will on following grounds
- Depending on whether the situation is grossly unfair or not.
- Determining whether there are financial needs of “family members”.
- There might be dependents, who are financially dependent (partly or fully) upon the deceased.
- Taking into consideration whether or not the deceased had the mental capacity to understand what he/she was doing.
- If the Executor was disproportionately influenced by another person prior to the signing of the document and that it in fact did not reflect the deceased’s true wishes.
What to consider
Contenting a will is a big deal and can cause lifetime relationship damage, so before you set out to employ lawyers, try to resolve the issue if you can. It would be a real shame to cause some lifelong damage that might be avoided simply by making a visit, call or even a letter. If you cannot resolve whatever issues there are then you will want to be sure that the team you employ can get results. The last thing you want is to have to go through the process again.
Do a bit of research and check out some of the local law firms, you might find existing clients that you can talk to so that you can get a feel for what the process entails from a client’s perspective, what challenges you will face and how the process may affect you.
