My friend was the caretaker of her church friend for the past several years. When he passed he left her everything, including a house and car. The will was drawn up by his lawyer and is valid. The will is still in probate and the house was put in my friends name. A distant relative is contesting the will. My friend and his niece were the only constant presence in his life. He has not even seen or spoke to his daughter in past 25 yers and we could not find her when he passed. Will this distant relative have any success in contesting the will if it is legally binding?

The reason why there are judges is to make exactly this kind of determination - to rule whether the will is valid or not. As long as it was executed properly, with witnesses, and as long as there are no technical glitches in the will then your friend should be OK. I trust she has a lawyer she's working with - right? If not, she should get one ASAP.

BTW, if the will is deemed invalid then the man is deemed to have died intestate. The rules for splitting property vary by state, and depend on what relatives are currently alive. You describe the person contesting the will as a "distant" relative - how distant? Surely that person must think she/he is entitled to something or he/she wouldn't have filed suit. Or could it be that the person is claiming that there is a competing will, one that names him/her as a beneficiary?

Thanks. Yes, she was working with his lawyer whom he had known 8+ years. When he passed, the lawyer took care of everything as far as filings. There are witnesses to the will and we are more than certain it is valid and legally binding.

He never spoke of family. He has a daughter that he has not seen or talked to in over 25 years. She never came to the funeral either, and we had no way of contacting her. He only had one niece to come around and when he passed the niece called people she knew, but they were people who didn't know him. The niece had no intentions of contesting the will. The lady that got up and spoke (who is contesting) said nothing about them, other than mentioning the fact they had the same last name and she saw it in the newspaper. Also, the lady that filed does not have a lawyer.

In any case, his lawyer, who also drew up the will is out of town on vacation and won't be back until after the response period is up.. what can my friend do to respond to the complaint?

We don't know how distant.. she was probably a distant cousin or maybe a niece. At the funeral She never said how she was related to him, and in the complaint, she still doesn't state what her relationship is to him. No one has a clue where his daughter is either. The will that is currently in probate was done a little over a year ago.

Again you believe it is legal and binding, and merely being drawn by an attorney is not always that way, If the attorney did not add the right issues, or if the other family member who has a claim was not mentioned in some states, as to leaving them at least a dollar, or in some cases, naming them that that get nothing,

Exact wording often matters, I would hope this attorney knows wills, not all do.

But if the judge rules against it, then it was not valid, the judge decides if it is valid or ot

Your friend must respond before the due date, or the ruling will automatically go against her. If the lawyer who drew up the will can't do it, then she needs to find another lawyer.

What does the woman who is complaining base her filing on?

The woman who filed the complaint did this on her own. It was not filed by a lawyer on her behalf. It's a very short paragraph. I can't remember everything it states but one of the sentences says that my friend is not a relative of the deceased. I will post more of what it says when I look at it again. Its only about 4 or five short sentences.

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In any case, his lawyer, who also drew up the will is out of town on vacation and won't be back until after the response period is up.. what can my friend do to respond to the complaint?

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Your friend needs to get another lawyer to file a timely response. Technically the absent lawyer might be a witness and therefore disqualified from representing her anyway.

Almost anyone can file a protest against a will, if it is not handled properly and in the correct time frame, The will can be ruled against,

As noted please get an atttoney to handle this

OK, my friends situation is that the lawyer is currently out of town and won't be back to the end of January. My friend needs to respond to the summons by the 8th. The lawyer is out of the country so my friend has submit something within the time frame. Im just trying to help. What can we submi to the court just to respond, and then when the lawyer returns he can do what else needs to be done.

Also, with regard to the summons, the complaintant, stated that my friend is not a relative "to"deceased nor is a friend of the family. It also states "we believe that ____ create and signed a false will with the assistance of her attorney. signed under the penalty of perjury. Then request that the "estate and properties be placed under restraint."

First doesn't the attorney have an office? Most attorneys have at least a secretary or paralegal working for them who can help file a response.

But if not, file a request for a continuance on the grounds that the attorney of record is out of the country.

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Originally Posted by cunfuzed

ok, my friends situation is that the lawyer is currently out of town and wont be back to the end of january. my friend needs to respond to the summons by the 8th. the lawyer is out of the country so my friend has submit something within the time frame. Im just trying to help. What can we submi to the court just to respond, and then when the lawyer returns he can do what else needs to be done.

Also, with regard to the summons, the complaintant, stated that my friend is not a relative "to"deceased nor is a friend of the family. It also states "we believe that ____ create and signed a false will with the assistance of her attorney. signed under the penalty of perjury. Then request that the "estate and properties be placed under restraint."

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Most attorneys won't get themselves unavailable for that length of time without good reason. It's a possibility that he/she doesn't want to take the case. There is more than one fish in the sea. So I say again: get another lawyer.

At any rate, your friend should file something with the court addressing each numbered paragraph of the complaint (or petition, or whatever it is that needs a response), either denying or admitting each. Or if you need more time to answer, file something with the court asking for more time. You should recite the reason you need more time, and tell the court how much time you need. But the fact that this particular lawyer is out-of-pocket is not IMO a good reason, and the judge may agree, unless you can explain why you need this lawyer.

Finally, it appears that the person doesn't have standing to contest the will. That point should also be brought up in your response.

Thanks again everyone. My friend contacted the lawyer's office (the lawyer was out of the country, not town) and the lawyer called right back after getting the message. The lawyer was able to check the court filings and discovered that the service was not yet reported to the court, which I guess means my friend has more time to respond, and by that time the lawyer will be back in town to file a response.

Im not sure what you meant that the lawyer was out of pocket? The lawyers is actually the attorney for the deceased for the past several years and he is also the same lawyer that did the will and filed it in probate court. He told my friend he will easily get this case dismissed because the complaintant will be unable to contest the will.

Ok so here is the upddate. A court date has been set for next month. The plaintiff who is contesting the will is the niece of the deased (her father, who is also deceased, is the brother of the deceased). The daughter of the plaintiff filed it back in September. Here are some other things that happened

1) It was the plaintiff's daughter who actually filed everything (the plaintiff has parkinson's disease)2) The plaintiff, who filed pro se, now has a lawyer
3) In October the plaintiff had her last name legally changed to the same last name of the deceased.
4) The plaintiff's daughter went to the post office and put all of the deceasedent's mail on hold. She was also picking it up until my friend went back and had all the mail forwarded.
5) The plaintiff's daughter also had all of the utilities turned off at the decedent's home. My friend, who is named as the executor of the estate, had all of the utilities turned back on except the electricity.

It is illegal for the plaintiff's niece to do all of this? Wouldn't the court find it odd that the plaintiff changed her last name to that of the decedent right after filing to contest the will? What stake would she have in a valid will that does not name her as a beneficiary to anything, provided the will is found to be valid?

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Originally Posted by cunfuzed

...It is illegal for the plaintiff's niece to do all of this?

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I would think not. She probably changed her name to enable her to fool the post office and the utility companies into assuming that she was the executrix.

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Originally Posted by cunfuzed

... What stake would she have in a valid will that does not name her as a beneficiary to anything, provided the the will is found to be valid?

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The "plaintiff" is the daughter of the late brother of the deceased (who's estate is in probate)? As the heir (I assume) of the brother, she would stand to inherit if the will is found to be invalid. If it were invalid the estate would go to the decedent's next-of-kin under the intestacy statute. If the decedent left no widow, children, parents, etc. that would probably be the brother or (since he is dead), his child(ren).

Yes, the plaintif is the decedent's niece. The will in probate is definitely valid. The my friend's attorney, who was actually the long time attorney of the decedent, specializes in wills. It was legally signed by the decdent with witnesses. He decided to draw up a will will when he discovered he was terminally ill. Prior to that my friend had been caring for him for years. They have known each other for a long time from church. The only other person who every came around to see him was a niece (not the one who filed) and she was never interested in his estate because she knew what he wanted.

The decedent does have a daughter but she has been no where to be found. When we were at the funeral I think there were only 3 or four of his relatives there. The plaintiff who filed was not at the funeral. The decedent also has other nieces, nephews, siblings, etc... So, if found to be invalid, wouldn't all of them have some stake in the will?

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Originally Posted by cunfuzed

... The decedent also has other nieces, nephews, siblings, etc... So, if found to be invalid, wouldn't all of them have some stake in the will?

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Sure.
But it appears that the plaintiff has "standing". If the will is found to be invalid she would stand to inherit something.

Of course, I understand, but we are more than confident that the will is iron clad and valid.

Did the executor report the mail issue to the Postmaster? It seems to be that putting a hold on the mail and, especially taking mail that she was not legally entitled to is a federal offense. She could be prosecuted under that. Which would put a damper on her case to contest.

The stopping of the utilities, is probably not criminal, but any damage to the property that resulted would be subject to civil suit.

Thanks Scott. I told her that could be considered some type of criminal offense. My friend did go back to the post office and had the hold taken off. My friend had all mail forwarded to her. Im not sure exactly what she told the post office about the daughter of the plaintiff, who put it on hold.

As far as the house, she didn't make such a bid deal about that. The home is very very old. If its sold it would have to be raised cause the wood is dry-rotted, the roof is not viable. The decedent was a "do-it-yourself" kind of guy and did not like a lot of help around the home. His home was his castle. When he had to go into a nursing home, my friend (who is retired) would take him to his home about 4 times a week just so he could spend time in his home. During his entire time in the nursing home, no one visited him except friends from the church, including my friend.