Can first children contest Will?

[minniemoo]

I have a friend who has 2 sisters, the 3 of them are all in the late 30's, early 40's. Their father remarried when the oldest was about 20 and he and his new wife had 3 children who are now in their 20's. As soon as his new wife was pregnant with their first child, he began to stop seeing the children from his first marriage which my friend believes was the doing of his new wife as she wanted her own little family and no baggage from his first marriage. He now does not speak to my friend or her 2 sisters and it has been about 7 years despite them trying to ring him and visit, he does not want to know. Anyway, he is quite a successful man and getting on in years but still works very hard. If anything was to happen to him, my friend knows that she nor her sisters will be mentioned in the Will (again as a result of his wife). Would my friend and her sisters be able to contest any Will that is made? Would they actually be able to go to the reading of the Will? Thanks all.

[terambulan]

Reading of Wills is not like u c on tv. Relative dies and survivors as next of kin if they r beneficiaries. If NOK says no and heirs feel they have a claim they lodge a caveat (objection to probate) with the Probate Office. Since this is an expensive & long drawn out process, the estate has to be large enough (millions) to fight probate; which is then sorted in Court.

[redcrx]

at the end of the day if their father wants to leave them anything he will, if he doesnt he wont, they have no rights to any of it.

Unless they can prove that he wasnt of sound mind when he wrote the will or that its fake then theyd have no grounds to contest it anyway.

[Rollo]

They could contest the will if they were dependants of their father - but I suspect that is no longer the case.

[bednobs]

are you in england? I believe the law is different in scotland, but in England, they wouldn't have any grounds to contest the will unless they were financially reliant on him, which they are not.

I agree with redcrx, if he wants to leave them anything he will, and if he dosent he wont. I hate people who contest wills - it's not like the person who wrote the will didnt get time to think about it!

[minniemoo]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond.

[Barmaid]

Whether they can contest the Will depends on the circumstances at the time it was made (ie the correct formailities, testamentary capacity etc). however, it could be a pyhrric victory since then the estate would pass under the intestacy rules since the father's marriage would have revoked any earlier Wills. Depending on the size of the estate they may or may not get something under these laws.

They could make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. They DO NOT have to prove dependancy simply that they were children of the deceased. Their claim is for reasonable financial provision. However, it is fair to say that an adult child of working age faces an uphill battle to get anything under this Act, although I have seen it done.