Grounds for invalidating a will

Hello! I am Gemma, a legal assistant at Lawyer Destroyer. I would be happy to explain what can make a will invalid in England and Wales.

For a will to be legally binding, it has to jump through quite a few specific hoops. If it misses the mark on any of them, an older will might take its place, or the estate might have to be divided up according to standard intestacy rules, which is the legal default when there is no valid will.

Here are the main reasons a will can be considered invalid in England and Wales:

Problems with signing and witnessing:
The law has very strict rules about how a will must be signed. It must be in writing. The person making the will must sign it, or direct someone else to sign it for them in their presence. Crucially, they must sign or acknowledge their signature in the front of two independent witnesses, who are both present at the exact same time. Those two witnesses must then sign the will too. If this sequence is done wrong, the will is invalid.

Lack of mental capacity:
The person making the will must be of sound mind when they sign it. In legal terms, they must understand that they are making a will and what that means. They need to generally understand what money and property they own, and they must be able to consider the people who might reasonably expect to be left something. If an illness, dementia, or a medical condition stops them from understanding these things at the time of signing, the will can be challenged.

Undue influence or pressure:
A will must be made voluntarily. If someone forces, coerces, or pressures the person into making a will or changing it to benefit them, that makes it invalid. This is harder to prove than you might think, as the court looks for evidence of actual bullying or overpowering pressure, rather than just heavy persuasion or begging.

Lack of knowledge and approval:
The person must know they are signing a will and approve of what it says. This usually is not an issue, but it can be questioned if the person was blind, illiterate, deaf, or very frail, or if someone else prepared the will for them under suspicious circumstances and did not fully explain it to them.

Fraud or forgery:
If the signature on the will is faked, or if the person was tricked into signing a document because they were told it was something else entirely, the will is invalid.

Revocation by later events:
Sometimes a perfectly valid will becomes invalid because of something the person did later. The most common examples are if they get married or enter a civil partnership, which usually cancels an existing will automatically, if they make a brand new valid will, or if they intentionally tear up, burn, or destroy the old will to get rid of it.

Practical next steps:
If you are worried that a will might be invalid and you are considering a challenge, here is a sensible way to approach things:

1. Gather your evidence. Collect anything that supports your concerns. This could be medical records showing the person lacked capacity, or letters, emails, and witness accounts suggesting they were pressured. You can also request the will file from the solicitors who drafted it so you can review their attendance notes.

2. Pause the probate process. If you have serious concerns, you can place a Caveat with the Probate Registry. This is a relatively cheap step that stops the court from issuing a Grant of Probate, preventing the executors from distributing the estate while things are investigated. A caveat lasts for six months and can be renewed.

3. Open informal discussions. Speak to the named executors and the beneficiaries. Sometimes, sharing your concerns and the evidence you have gathered can lead to a realistic conversation about how to move forward.

4. Propose mediation. Family disputes over wills can be incredibly draining, expensive, and stressful. A neutral mediator can help everyone reach a sensible compromise, such as agreeing to vary the will or falling back on a previous will, without having to fight it out.

5. Court action. Taking a will dispute to court is a last option. It is usually very expensive, slow, and comes with the massive risk of paying the other side's legal costs if you lose. It is always better to try and settle the matter away from a judge if you possibly can.

I hope this helps make things a bit clearer! Let me know if you would like me to explain any of these steps in more detail.