A client once came to our Manhattan office with two wills. The first was a meticulously drafted document from 2015, dividing his mother’s estate between him and his sister. The second, dated just two weeks before her death, was a simple, one-page document leaving her entire brownstone to a home health aide she had known for less than six months. His question was simple: “How can this be?” The answer, unfortunately, is rarely simple and always begins in New York’s Surrogate’s Court.
A will is not a self-executing command. It is a set of instructions that must be validated by a court through probate. During this proceeding, a will’s legitimacy can be—and often is—challenged. This is the start of estate litigation, a process that feels deeply personal because it forces a family to question the final wishes and final days of someone they loved.
The Grounds for a Challenge
When we evaluate a potential will contest, we are not looking for fairness. The law permits a person to disinherit a child or leave their entire fortune to a stranger. Instead, we are looking for a fatal flaw in the will’s creation or execution. The law provides specific grounds upon which a will can be invalidated.
The most common challenges I see in my practice include:
- Lack of Testamentary Capacity: The person signing the will—the testator—must have understood what they were doing. Did they know they were signing a will? Did they have a general sense of their assets? Did they know who their natural heirs were? A diagnosis of dementia is not, by itself, proof of incapacity, but it opens the door to serious inquiry.
- Undue Influence: This is a form of coercion, where a person in a position of trust and power overwhelms the testator’s free will for their own benefit. It’s rarely overt. It’s a pattern of isolation, dependency, and manipulation that culminates in a new will that benefits the influencer.
- Improper Execution: New York law is highly specific about how a will must be signed and witnessed. Under Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) §3-2.1, the testator must sign at the end of the document in the presence of two witnesses, who must also sign. A failure to follow these formalities can render the entire will invalid.
- Fraud or Forgery: This is the most straightforward challenge, though often the hardest to prove. It involves either a forged signature or a situation where the testator was tricked into signing a document they believed was something else entirely.
Only an “interested party”—someone who stands to gain financially if the will is thrown out—has the right to file objections. This is a critical point defined by Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) §1410. A disinherited son has standing; a disappointed friend does not.
Probate Is a Public Process
Once a will is submitted for probate, it becomes a public record. Every interested party, including heirs who were left out, must be formally notified. This is where private family matters can become public disputes. The executor named in the will has a fiduciary duty to defend the will, marshal the estate’s assets, and act in the best interest of the beneficiaries. This is a role of profound trust and legal responsibility.
Sometimes, litigation arises not from a challenge to the will itself, but from the actions—or inaction—of the executor. Beneficiaries may believe the executor is mismanaging funds, failing to communicate, or engaging in self-dealing. In these cases, we may initiate a proceeding to force an accounting of the estate’s finances or, in serious cases, to have the executor removed and replaced.
The Goal: Stewardship of a Legacy
Estate litigation is emotionally and financially taxing. It forces family members into adversarial positions at a time of grief. My role as counsel is not to inflame a dispute, but to provide a clear-eyed assessment of the legal realities. Is there sufficient evidence to mount a successful challenge? What is the likely cost in time and resources? What does a victory actually look like?
Often, the most prudent course is a negotiated settlement that honors the testator’s likely intent while providing a fair outcome for the family. Other times, a vigorous fight in court is the only way to protect a legacy from fraud or undue influence. The key is to be deliberate—to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the case and to pursue a strategy that serves the client’s long-term interests, not just the emotions of the moment.
A will is the final chapter of a person’s story. When its authenticity is in doubt, the law provides a formal process to find the truth. It is not a perfect process, but it is the one we have to ensure the proper stewardship of a life’s work.
If you are an executor defending a will or a beneficiary who has discovered a suspicious change in a loved one’s estate plan, the first step is an objective analysis of the document. Our firm can conduct a confidential review of the will and the surrounding facts to determine if valid grounds for a legal challenge exist.
