When people in Georgia die with a will in place, some situations might arise in which a party might contest the will. A will may be contested for any number of reasons. If a will contest is successful, the court will disregard the will and either follow a previous will or order that the assets are passed under the state’s intestacy laws.
When a person wishes to challenge a will, he or she must first identify all of the interested parties. The interested parties are not limited to just the people who are named in a will. If there is a prior will, the interested parties will also include all of those people as well.
The interested parties include all other family members even if they are not named in the will. It is important for people who are contesting wills to identify all of the interested parties because each of them has to be notified. After the parties have been identified, the pleadings for the will contest will need to be served on each party so that they can participate in the probate litigation process.
People who want to contest a will might benefit from consulting with probate attorneys who are experienced with will contests. The lawyers may review the will and discuss the situation. They may then analyze the facts and offer honest evaluations of whether valid grounds exist to challenge the will. Not all will contests will be successful; courts view wills as the last wishes of the deceased, and it must be shown that the wills are invalid for any of a number of different reasons. By getting legal help, people might learn whether they have a valid basis to contest a will and get representation through the probate litigation process.
