Hudson Valley Law Firm Frequently Asked Questions Videos
Can the validity of a will be contested?
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Occasionally somebody will object to the probate of the will, and then you have the issues of being able to question and examine the witnesses as to the competency of the decedent who actually signed the will and that they did witness.
That process is a right of the Objectant, they have that right to question the witnesses and it actually is an expense of the estate, so if somebody questions the validity of the will there’s not too much of a difficult process to even have that happen. The judge will happily go ahead with that examination of the witnesses for one of the heirs who would otherwise inherit that property.
I don’t know if people are always aware that they have that right.
The other thing that really important to think about is having a firm represent you that has a litigation department and specialty because in questioning those witnesses, occasionally you want to have a litigation person there who’s ready to ask the right questions the right way. And we have that ability with our firm because we have the litigation department that works with us together on our contestant probate matters.
