Will contests destroy families. They burn through estate assets in legal fees. Distributions get frozen for years while everyone argues. The worst part? Most of these battles could’ve been avoided with better planning up front.
At Eastside Estate Planning, we’ve watched too many families implode over contested wills. We’ve also figured out how to draft documents that make challenges much less likely. Prevention beats courtroom drama every single time.
Legal Grounds For Challenging A Will In Washington
You can’t contest a will simply because you don’t like what it says. Washington law requires actual legal grounds. Hurt feelings don’t count. Neither does thinking the distribution is unfair.
Lack Of Testamentary Capacity
Did the person signing the will understand what they owned? Did they know who their family members were? Did they grasp what the document actually did? Dementia can destroy capacity. So can severe mental illness or being completely intoxicated during signing.
The bar isn’t particularly high, though. You don’t need crystal-clear thinking. You just need to understand the basics of what you’re doing. Courts give testators significant leeway here.
Undue Influence
This happens when someone with power manipulates the testator into making changes they wouldn’t have made independently. Caregivers who isolate elderly clients. Adult children who pressure sick parents. New spouses who push out kids from earlier marriages.
The person doing the influencing almost always benefits from the changes. That’s the telltale sign.
Courts examine the circumstances carefully. Was the will drafted in secret? Did the main beneficiary arrange everything about the signing? Was the testator financially or emotionally dependent on someone who gained from the new terms? These red flags trigger serious scrutiny.
Improper Execution
Washington has specific formalities you can’t skip. The testator signs in front of two witnesses. Those witnesses can’t be beneficiaries under the will. Everyone signs in the testator’s presence. Miss any of these steps and your carefully written document might collapse, regardless of what you actually wanted.
Fraud Or Forgery
Someone tricks you about what you’re signing. Or they forge your signature entirely. These cases don’t happen often, but they’re devastating when they do.
How A Bellevue Wills Lawyer Prevents Challenges
Smart drafting stops most disputes before anyone files a court petition. A Bellevue wills lawyer builds protection directly into your documents using techniques refined through years of practice.
Document Mental Capacity Clearly
We include attestation clauses where witnesses formally state they observed your mental clarity. For clients with health issues, we sometimes arrange a capacity evaluation by a physician right before signing. That medical opinion becomes powerful ammunition if someone later questions whether you knew what you were doing.
The signing appointment matters more than people realize. We meet with you privately first to confirm you actually understand the document and nobody’s pressuring you. We watch how you communicate and make decisions. If we have genuine concerns about capacity, we won’t proceed with signing.
Use Self-Proving Affidavits
These notarized witness statements eliminate the need to hunt down your witnesses years later when probate starts. More importantly, they create a contemporaneous record that everything happened properly. Challenging a self-proved will becomes significantly harder because the evidence of proper execution is already locked in.
Include Explanation Clauses
Making unusual distributions? Explain why in the document itself. “I’m leaving less to my son because I already gave him $200,000 for his business startup” provides context that reduces suspicion later. It won’t stop a determined challenger, but it weakens their argument considerably.
Consider No Contest Clauses
Washington allows in terrorem clauses that disinherit anyone who unsuccessfully contests your will. They don’t prevent all challenges, but they make potential contestants think hard before filing. If someone stands to inherit $50,000 but risks losing everything by contesting and losing, they might not take that gamble.
These clauses need careful drafting, though. Make them too broad and courts won’t enforce them. We typically build in exceptions for challenges brought in good faith with probable cause.
Additional Protective Strategies
Your actions outside the document matter just as much as what’s written inside it. We recommend several approaches:
- Talk to your family members about your decisions while you’re still alive, so surprises don’t trigger contests
- Keep detailed records if you’re making unequal distributions or cutting someone out entirely
- Update your will promptly after divorces, remarriages, births, or deaths to eliminate outdated provisions
- Store your will somewhere secure and make sure your personal representative knows exactly where to find it
High-risk situations deserve extra attention. Blended families with competing interests. Significant wealth that magnifies every dispute. Strained relationships that already exist before you die. For these scenarios, consider using a revocable trust instead of a will because trusts face different challenge procedures that are often harder to navigate successfully.
When Challenges Happen Despite Prevention
Even perfectly drafted wills get contested sometimes. Family dynamics override logic. Grief warps judgment. People convince themselves they deserve more than you intended to leave them, no matter what the document says.
If your estate faces a challenge, your personal representative will need to defend your wishes in court. They’ll hire an attorney, review all the circumstances surrounding the will’s creation, and decide whether settling makes sense or fighting is better. Strong documentation from the beginning makes their defense easier and your intended distribution more likely to survive.
Protecting Your Legacy
Will contests damage more than bank accounts. They permanently destroy family relationships. They transform grief into rage. They make your death about money instead of memory and love.
A Bellevue wills lawyer can’t eliminate contest risk. Human nature being what it is, some families will fight no matter what you do. But we can reduce that risk substantially through thoughtful drafting, proper execution, and honest conversations about potential conflict points before they explode.
Our team at Eastside Estate Planning invests time understanding your specific family situation and where tensions might emerge after you’re gone. We draft documents that withstand legal scrutiny and discourage frivolous challenges from people who just didn’t get what they hoped for. Schedule a consultation to discuss how proper planning can shield your estate from costly disputes and give your family the clarity they desperately need during an already difficult time.
