Contesting a will

deebnm

Registered User
Messages
38
Hi

Would like some advice re contesting a will?

Aunt(only surviving family member) has passed away & will was made while she was in a nursing home. House was given to the one child of our big family, clearing stating her as her niece!

Since discovered our aunt was in fact my sister, and so the niece on the will is not correct! would this effect how the will will be distributed?
 
Was this person clearly identified in another way, for eg by name? Is there any suggestion your aunt was not mentally competent to make her will?
 
Aunt did not recognise family members in the last year of her being in the retirement home. She was in this home for 5 years. Will was made a year ago. I need to check whether the will had a docturs cert to establish she was mentally sound to make a will.

The will specifies niece X.....but she is actually her sister and our aunt knew this.
 
If the will is invalid then the estate would be divided equally between the next of kin, as i recall if there are no children then it goes back up to the parents, if no parents then to the siblings. So as a sibling you would certainly have an interest in establishing whether it was validly executed or not.

I also think that if the person is clearly identified, even if wrongly titled, then the gift would be a valid one (assuming the will itself is valid).
 
discovered our aunt was in fact my sister
Gosh! I'm intrigued .... (please don't be offended, and you needn't answer if you don't want to), but I assume your aunt/sister was of a ripe old age before she passed away...how come you didn't know the true story before now?