Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
If you are engaged in a will dispute particularly over the validity of a will accumulation of evidence is critical. What are the key things to focus on?
A non exhaustive list of things to do include:
1 Get The
will – To attack the
validity of the will you need to obtain
the will – If a person refused to provide the will an application can be made
for the issue of a witness summons via the Senior Courts Act.
2) Once you have it, Review The Will – It is
important to scrutinise it and check and see the legal formalities have been
complied with. Within this check the following:
- Is it handwritten or not? If the will was handwritten by a
beneficiary then this will evidence that will raise suspicion.
f the will was handwritten by a significant beneficiary the more likely it is
to be attacked later.
-
How
complex is the will ? The more complicated it is the more likely that it can be
attacked for lack of knowledge and approval particularly if there are doubts
over the mental capacity of the testator.
-
Who were the attesting witnesses? Could they have been in
any way influenced or applied influence?
3) Otherwise, Acquire other evidence such as by getting the will file(e.g via Larke v Nugus letter).
These are some of the things to focus upon and provide a platform for seeing if legal action may bear fruit.