Can I Contest a Will If I Suspect Undue Influence or Fraud?
When a loved one passes, you have a lot of issues to deal with, not the least of which is your grief. In the midst of this grief, the last thing you want to have to deal with is a shock when you find out that your loved one’s last will and testament doesn’t say what you expected it to say. There can be legitimate reasons for this, but when family members find themselves unexpectedly left out or someone unexpected is getting a much larger share of an inheritance than seems right, undue influence or fraud could be in play. If you have concerns like these, contact a Houston, TX will contest lawyer.
Contesting Undue Influence or Fraud in a Will
Undue Influence
Undue influence happens when one person persuades another person to do something against their free will. It’s important to note that “undue” influence is different from just influence. It’s perfectly possible for someone to persuade another to name a distant relative as a beneficiary or leave out a beneficiary who would normally be expected to inherit, but undue influence means that person who made the will was coerced in some way and thus made a decision they would not have made otherwise. As you can perhaps guess, this isn’t always easy to prove.
Proving Undue Influence
You will need to be able to point out what person or entity you believe had undue influence over your relative, and in order to prove it, you’ll have to show a couple of different elements. The first is to show that your loved one, who is the victim in this situation, was vulnerable in someway. They could have been vulnerable because of their age, because of incapacity, because of illness or injury, because of their dependence upon the perpetrator, or because they had impaired cognitive function.
It’s also necessary to show that the perpetrator had some kind of influence over the victim; some kind of authoritative voice in the victim’s life. The perpetrator could be a family member or someone who provides care, a legal or spiritual advisor, or a person in a trusted financial role, such as an accountant or a trustee. With these elements established, you’ll need to be able to show some evidence of behavior on the part of the perpetrator against the victim. Examples of coercive behavior include denying the victim certain personal rights until they “do what they’re told” or controlling the things they need to survive, such as medication or food. Coercion can also look like trying to control the victim’s access to other people or access to outside information.
Getting Evidence
It’s not always easy to find direct and clear evidence of coercive behavior against the victim. It’s rare for a perpetrator to make an admission of guilt, and the courts realize this and will be willing to look at a wide variety of circumstantial evidence. With enough circumstantial evidence in play, you can still have a strong case. The key will be to show a pattern of behavior. An experienced attorney can help you understand the big picture here and get the evidence you need to show this.
That said, there are things that simply won’t work as evidence. Just not liking the way the will has played out is not enough to show there’s been undue influence, nor is it enough that you don’t approve of a beneficiary. The testator has the right to do what they want with their own things, including giving them to people that the family may not approve of. The key here is whether the decision was really an action of the testator’s own free will.
Talking to a Houston, TX Will Contest Lawyer
If you suspect there’s been coercion against the testator of a will that you have an interest in, you should talk to a lawyer and petition the probate court to review the will and what went into its creation. If there has been undue influence, then your rights and the rights of all other beneficiaries have been violated. Probate court can be very confusing, even when everything goes right, and cases like this are especially complicated. It’s never advisable to attempt to bring a petition before the probate court without having a lawyer’s advice and help.
Will Fraud
Fraud can take a number of forms when it comes to a will, and technically, undue influence is a type of fraud. Other common types of fraud include fraud in the execution of the will and forgery. Fraud in the execution of the will happens when the testator ends up signing something without understanding or realizing what it is that they’re signing. For example, someone committing fraud may work with the testator to produce a will according to the testator’s wishes, but at the last moment switch out pages so that the testator is actually signing a completely different document from what they believe they are signing. Forgery is fairly simple to understand: it happens when the document has not actually been signed by the testator at all or when the entire will has been forged.
How to Spot Fraud
There are a couple ways to look for fraud in these situations. One thing to look for is a discrepancy in the language and style of the document itself. If there are sudden changes in phrasing or tone, this could indicate either that the document has been drafted by someone other than the actual testator or that paragraphs or pages have been added in or removed. Another thing to look for is unusual signatures or completely identical signatures that look as if they could’ve been traced from a different document.
Another red flag pops up when most of the estate planning documents have been formally prepared with the help of an attorney, but suddenly an informal, DIY will is revealed. While it is true that sometimes people make their own wills at the last minute because they wish to make a change, most people who are careful enough to use an attorney and do everything by the book the first time around are also going to go back to an attorney to make any major changes.
Legal Remedies
If you have any reason to suspect fraud or undue influence, you must take immediate action. Talk to an experienced will contest lawyer as quickly as possible, and make sure to talk to someone with experience in the Texas courts. Your attorney will petition the court to conduct a thorough investigation. The will itself can be examined for forged signatures and analyze for discrepancies, and a lot can be done to uncover evidence of deceit or coercion. If you have noticed any unusual behavior or had any odd conversations with anyone involved, be sure to keep records of this and pass them on to your lawyer.
For help with contesting a will, reach out to Hensley & Krueger, PLLC in Houston, TX right away. We have over 50 years of experience in trusts, wills, and probate court and understand the personal and financial challenges these can bring. We’ll put our experience to work for you.
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