can you undue a trust or will
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can you undue a trust or will
i believe my grandmother left her property and everything to my uncle who is not
competent he has the mind of a 12 year old when she has 4 kids 1 in prison for
life 1 mentally ill and 1 whos no where responsible she currently is on hospice
at my house ive been taking care of her almost all of my life i am her
grandaughter is there any way i can fight for what she has left to her son
Asked on May 4, 2019 under Estate Planning, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
You can only challenge the creation of a trust or will on the following grounds, and will need evidence or proof (e.g. from doctors who treated your grandmother, of her incompetency; see below) to support whatever ground(s) you use to challenge it.
1) It was not properly signed or witnessed, since wills and trusts are only effective if your state's formalities or rules for creating them are following.
2) If your grandmother was not mentally competent when she created the will or trust, since only mentally competent people can create these things.
3) If your grandmother was coerced by illegal threats (e.g. of violence or blackmail) to do what she did.
4) If your grandmother was under the beneficiary's (e.g. your uncle's) "undue influence" when she created the will: that is, she left something significant to someone upon whom she was dependent (e.g. if she was disabled and he was her caregiver) and whom she could not effectively refuse, so the will or trust is not really the product of her own free choice.
5) If the will or trust was forged (i.e. not her signature) or the product of fraud (she was somehow tricked into thinking she was signing something else, not what she did sign).
Again, you will need evidence or proof to support the above.
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