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Contest A Will In Scotland - Expert Legal Advice

Pitfalls Of Writing A Will:
There are lots of potential pitfalls involved in will writing in Scotland and even the smallest thing wrong can ensure that a will could be contested in a Scottish court of law. Some people do, in any event, attempt to contest a will even if the document is valid if they haven't been included as a beneficiary.

Is The Will Valid?
If you should ever need to call a Scottish solicitor for advice on how to contest a will the first thing they will do is to see whether or not the will is valid. In the case of a 'do it yourself' will they are often not valid at all, since the person who made it has not followed all the legal requirements. If a person dies without a will in Scotland they are deemed to have died intestate and special rules apply to the distribution of the estate. This can involve a lot of work for the solicitor and a lot of heartache for the families involved. In some intestate cases the state can rightfully claim all of the assets.

Validity Requirements:
A will is valid if it has been made by someone who is aged twelve or older, has full knowledge of what they were doing and has been properly witnessed. There should also be no interference from anyone else while the will is being made. For example if someone was found to have influenced the outcome of the will then that person would not benefit from it and in some cases the entire will may be deemed to be invalid as a result. The witness should not be a beneficiary or a spouse.

Dependents Rights:
Even when properly made it is still possible to contest a will. A good example of this is if you have one or more dependents and you have not recognised them in your will. In this case they would be legally allowed to challenge the will in a court of law, so that they could lay claim to the part of the estate that would be rightfully theirs.

Revocation And Destruction:
Another point to bear in mind is the need to change your will at some point. In this case you might want to destroy the original and have a new one drawn up. You should make doubly sure that the original will is completely and totally destroyed and if you have lodged copies of that will with anyone else, those copies should also be destroyed so as to avoid the possibility that your new will goes astray and a copy of your original one is produced after your death. This area of law is a major source of litigation for who wish to contest a will in Scotland.

Free Legal Advice:
Our expert panel of solicitors have years of experience in dealing with all matters concerning wills, contested wills and issues that arise both before and after someone's death. Contact us now to obtain free initial legal advice from a qualified solicitor. If the matter goes to court our panel solicitors deal with contentious cases using the no win no fee scheme.