How to Avoid Your Will being Challenged

Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed way to prevent your Will from being challenged but there are some sensible steps that you can take to reduce the success of a potential challenge.

Some of the most common challenges to Wills involve questions over the validity of the Will, whether anyone pressured you into making certain provisions in the Will (undue influence), that it has been forged and whether or not you had capacity at the time you made the Will.

You should ask a solicitor to prepare your Will as they will ensure that it has been properly drafted and when you come to sign it, that it is signed in accordance with the legal formalities required for the Will to be valid. If the Will is not signed in accordance with these strict formalities, then it will not be valid and is open to challenge. The result of a successful challenge may be that your wishes are not carried out.

When you meet with a solicitor to prepare your Will the solicitor will ask to see you alone in order to verify that your instructions truly reflect your wishes and that you are not feeling pressurised by anyone else to give certain instructions. If the solicitor does have concerns, then they will address these with you.

It is very difficult for someone to prove that a Will has been forged where it has been prepared by a solicitor and signed in their presence.

Lastly, when the solicitor meets with you to take instructions for your Will and again to sign it with you they will be asking your questions about you, your family background, your assets and your wishes to ensure that you have the required capacity to make a Will. This is particularly important if you are elderly, vulnerable or wishes to leave someone out of your Will. In some circumstances, the solicitor may suggest that you see your GP or another suitably qualified professional so that they can carry out an independent assessment of your capacity, which is great external evidence to have on the file to help defeat a challenge.

After you have met with your solicitor, both to give instructions and to sign the Will, they will prepare a detailed note of your meeting setting out what was discussed, what their views were in relation to your capacity and whether they had any concerns about third party influences. This note is excellent evidence (in addition to any external capacity assessments) which can be produced by your Executors to defeat a challenge at a later date.

For further information regarding the above or if you would like to discuss a Wills & Probate related query with one of the team, please call on 0800 011 6666 or e-mail the team at legal@timms-law.com.