Who wins in dispute over a will: boyfriend or daughter?

Question

If a guy is dating an old woman and he is in her will, but the woman's daughter is likely to dispute the validity of the will and takes me to court, will she be able to overturn the will?

Answer 1

If it is a valid will, she will not be able to overturn it.  If it is not valid, then she will.  Validity often turns on competence.  If she was competent and decided to leave her estate to the dude, she can do that.  Another ground is undue influence.  If the dude forced her to change her will, then the will is invalid.  there is no general rule about who wins based solely on relationship.

Answer 2

Possibly.

You can never predict what a Judge will do.

Answer 3

It depends on all of the circumstances.  "Undue influence" and "mental competence"  are common grounds for a will contest.

If he were to receive the bulk of the old woman's estate, it is almost a certainty that there will be a will contest.  If he is to receive a nominal amount of money for the estate, I do not think there would be a problem.

With will contests, the law assumes that the will is valid unless the person contesting the will can prove grounds for a will contest.  It is expensive to mount a will contest, and many attorneys insist on a large retainer before they start working.  A person bringing a will contest must look at what it will cost to bring a will contest and the probability that they will be successful.

Answer 4

The definite answer is.....it depends.  Depends on how well the Will was written, depends on if the woman was mentally sound when the Will was written, depends on if the daughter can claim that you exercised undue influence over the mom or alienated the mom against the daughter, depends on the length of your relationship with the mom......a court will look at all these things when deciding

Answer 5

if you are only dating... even if she includes you in her will, blood can over rule it.

Answer 6

Yes.  If a family member is excluded from a will there is typically grounds for adjudication.

Answer 7

Perhaps.  She will have to prove that the will did not distribute her mother's estate as her mother intended.