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Introduction: Wills are Frequently Challenged by Interested Parties
Wills are not always accepted without any sort of opposition. In many cases, wills are challenged on one or more ground by one or more interested parties. If we consider what is in the balance, we shouldn’t be too surprised; wills often transmit large sums of money, and so whenever money is at stake there is usually some form of squabbling. In the past, we have discussed some of the challenges which might be made against the validity of a will in certain situations. In this post, we’d like to provide an overview of the some of the more common types of challenges we have seen. This is not meant to be exhaustive, and we cannot dive too deeply into the details of each challenge. But, this should give a fairly good overview of the challenges which testators need to be aware of when they draft their documents.
Challenge #1: The Signatures were Invalid
Easily one of the most common challenges made is that the signatures were invalid for one reason or another. Like other legal documents, wills must be signed in order to be valid. Maryland law does not really have additional requirements for will signatures to be valid, as these signatures are evaluated in a similar manner to other signatures. But, readers should be aware of the fact that any sort of irregularity may serve as grounds for a challenge. If, for instance, the signatures are signed in different ink, or appear to vary from previous examples (by the signors), or appear inauthentic for any other reason, then a challenge might occur.
Challenge #2: The Will was Improperly Witnessed
In addition to signatures, Maryland law requires a minimum number of witnesses to render a will valid. As with signatures, an interested party who wants to make a challenge might try to undermine this witness requirement on a range of grounds. If the witnesses did not all sign at the same time and location, or if the witness signatures are not “affixed” to the primary document, or if there are not enough witnesses, then the will might be challenged. Wills must comply with various technical requirements, and the witness requirement is a critical one.
Challenge #3: The Beneficiaries were Insufficiently Identified
This is a very commonly cited challenge. One of the primary sections of a will is the identification of beneficiaries. Obviously, there needs to be sufficient clarity regarding the identity of future beneficiaries, but this might not always be achieved in every case. For whatever reason, there might be legitimate confusion or uncertainty regarding the identity of a particular beneficiaries or group of beneficiaries. Perhaps a person’s full name is not given, or contains a slight spelling error, or doesn’t include an accent mark, or there is some other omission or mistake. Whatever the specifics, whenever there is some form of uncertainty in this way, challenges are often made.
Challenge #4: The Will was Improperly Ambiguous
This is similar to challenge number 3, but applies to every section of the will. When drafting a will, one of the most fundamental points to bear in mind is the importance of clarity. Everything in the will needs to be clear – the identities of beneficiaries, the addresses of real property, the identities of all family members, the functions of the trustee, etc. -- in order to avoid challenges based on ambiguity. Consider the following scenario: a testator leaves a piece of real property to a beneficiary, but the language doesn’t properly specify which parcel the beneficiaries is supposed to receive. The testator owns multiple pieces of real property, and doesn’t differentiate the various pieces in his or her portfolio in the will. In this situation, the will would be open to a challenge based on ambiguity as there is uncertainty regarding which parcel is due to the beneficiary. This same general principle applies throughout the entirety of a will.
Contact the Murphy Law Firm for Additional Resources
If readers want to know more about the will challenges by interested parties, witness requirements for will drafting, ensuring signature validity, or any other related estate planning matter, contact one of the estate planning attorneys at the Murphy Law Firm today by calling 240-219-1187.
