A will contest occurs when a person with an interest in a decedent’s estate—such as a beneficiary under the will or a relative of the decedent—challenges the validity of the decedent’s will or the interpretation of its terms. These disputes are often legally challenging, but they have pressing emotional and psychological dimensions as well. Here’s what you can expect.
Common Psychological Challenges of Will Contests
Families may experience various psychological challenges that can give rise to will contests, such as:
- Grief and loss: The loss of a loved one can significantly intensify emotions, which can cause family members to take knee-jerk reactions when issues arise. Furthermore, unresolved family dynamics caused by the death of a family member may lead surviving loved ones to launch will contests as part of those lingering disputes.
- Family rivalries: Long-standing tensions among surviving family members can boil over into will contests.
- Perceived injustice/unfairness: Surviving heirs excluded from a decedent’s will or who received less than what they perceive as a fair share of the estate may bring will contests, claiming that other family members who inherited more must have exerted undue influence over the decedent to create an unfair estate plan.
Emotional Impact on Families
Will contests can have substantial emotional effects on participants in the probate process. For example, surviving family members who file a will contest may experience significant stress and anxiety complicated by feelings of betrayal by their deceased loved one or other family members. Other members of the decedent’s family may also feel stressed over resolving a will contest, which can delay the resolution of their loved one’s affairs and cost the family substantial money. Executors/administrators of an estate subject to a will contest may also experience significant anxiety over defending their role or trying to carry out the decedent’s wishes as they perceived them in the will.
Finally, a will contest can overshadow a family’s positive memories and legacy for their deceased loved one. Heirs who file a will contest may view the decedent as unfairly cutting them out of their rightful inheritance. Furthermore, the whole family must focus on resolving an intense legal dispute over their deceased loved one’s assets rather than celebrating their loved one’s memory and legacy.
Psychological Tactics Used in Will Contests
Will contests may involve various kinds of psychological tactics by contestants, such as allegations of:
- Undue influence: In an undue influence claim in a will contest, a contestant may allege that other family members improperly influenced a decedent to create a will that favored those family members over the individual contesting the will.
- Mental incapacity: Some will contests allege that a decedent lacked the mental capacity to create a will, leading to the acceptance of a prior will to probate or passing of the decedent’s estate through intestacy laws.
- Emotional manipulation or coercion: Contestants bringing a will contest may rely on emotional manipulation to sway the outcome, such as “guilt-tripping” family members into not defending against the will contest by claiming that their deceased loved one made an “unfair” will or estate plan.
Strategies to Mitigate Emotional Fallout
People undertaking estate planning or families administering a deceased loved one’s will can mitigate the emotional and psychological consequences of a potential will contest through:
- Precise estate planning: Creating a comprehensive, detailed estate plan and communicating the details of one’s estate plan to family members can reduce the risk of ambiguity or confusion and the chance of family members becoming disappointed with their inheritance once the individual passes away and their will goes into effect.
- Mediation: Family members on opposite sides of a will contest may pursue mediation to reach a settlement to resolve their dispute.
- Empathetic legal counsel: Attorneys representing parties in a will contest can provide compassionate, empathetic advice to help their clients navigate the emotional challenges that can arise.
Contact a Probate Attorney Today
If you’re interested in contesting a will or need help defending someone else’s contest, an experienced probate lawyer can help you navigate the psychological and emotional complications. Contact Loew Law Group today for a confidential consultation to learn more about what to expect during a will contest.