When the validity of a will comes into question, emotions and stakes run high - it's a scenario that could affect any one of us. Our premiere litigation series episode unpacks the concept of will caveats, diving into the roles of the 'caveator', who raises the challenge, and the 'propounder', who must defend the will's honor. We navigate the murky waters of undue influence and capacity issues that often trigger these disputes, providing you with the insight needed to understand what's at stake when a family legacy is on the line.
As we traverse real-life anecdotes and the potential outcomes of caveat actions, our discussion illuminates the complexities families face when a will is contested. Whether it leads to a previous will taking precedence or an entirely different succession plan, the implications are profound. With our seasoned experience in representing both caveators and propounders, this episode offers an expert's perspective on the intricacies of will challenges. Tune in for an invaluable guide to the legal labyrinth that is will caveats, and arm yourself with knowledge that could one day safeguard your familial bonds and inheritance rights.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to our first installment of our litigation series. We're going to talk Will Caviar today. We're going to define what a caveat is. We're going to talk about the parties, the caveator and the propounder, and we're going to talk about how it affects you and your family. So what is a caveat? A caveat is essentially a warning or something isn't right, something's off. Well, that's essentially what it means in a probate case as well.
Speaker 1:
If a will is submitted to probate and somebody who's taking under that will, or maybe someone who thinks they should be taking, is an error at law, like a child of someone who passes away at a seatant then they may challenge a will that's being submitted to probate, and there's a number of reasons why they might do that too. Or what we see most generally from our clients who hire us to pursue will caveat cases, or from clients who hire us to defend will caveat cases the first reason is undue influence. Something's off about the influence that an individual who's taking under the will had around the time a will was made. So let's say that a child moves in with a parent and takes care of that parent, hides that parent away, won't let that parent see other family members and really begins to have an overbearing and undue influence on the parent and maybe that parent isn't in the best state of mind. Maybe there's been, you know, diminished capacity, some kind of capacity issue there and because of that the child exerts an undue influence on the parent, takes the parent to an attorney's office, sits in on the consult and really dictates what happens in this will and at the end maybe gets everything, is the sole heir of the will as a sibling of that. You know, that child that might have undue influence, the parent as a sibling. You might want to bring a caveat action against your, against that will in that probate of state saying hey, my sister, my brother, had undue influence here around the time this will was made and we're questioning the validity of that will and the way we're going to question that legally is through the theory of undue influence. Another reason is lack of capacity at the time of the signing of the will. So that's often an issue in a caveat action. Is that mom, dad, lack capacity at the time of the signing of the will, that there were medical records you know that stated that this person was not competent to handle their own personal affairs. Maybe they're not handling their health care affairs at the time and there's a will that signed and put forth in probate in the legal proceeding, which is probate, which passes assets through a will, and maybe a child or other children are saying, hey, when this will was signed, mom or dad did not have capacity to sign that will, did not understand what was written in that will and really understand or have the capacity, the capability of understanding what they were doing when they signed that will. That may have changed an old will and given things to say, one family member or, you know, move things away from other family members, as was previously stated in a will, when mom or dad absolutely had capacity when that will was signed.
Speaker 1:
Now, the person that brings the action in a caveat proceeding is called the caveator. The person defending the action is called the propounder. Maybe the person that submitted the will to probate and maybe as the executor under the will would be a propounder. There might be multiple people that can align with each side or each party the caveators in the propounder. So you'll see the families take sides and align. There's an alignment hearing during a caveat proceeding. Part of that is an alignment hearing where we align the parties. We handle will caveat cases on both sides, both for the caveatores and the propounders. So, taking action or defending a caveat action, what we do is sit down with the family, understand or our potential client understand the situation and then gauge whether there's a legal basis to bring a caveat action or what a defense might be for a propounder in a caveat action. We have experience in caveat actions and we handle those all the time and I wanted to talk to you today just a bit about the history or what the definition of caveats are.
Speaker 1:
A bit of the process of a caveat the court ultimately decides whether the will is valid or not. If the will was not valid, then it would revert back to a previous will or version of a will. Or if there was no previous will, it would revert back to the state's will, which are the statutes of intestate secession which would pass, say, equally, for example, to all children the assets. If you have a question about whether a will is valid or not, or if you're involved in a caveat action, I would offer a free consult to meet with us and talk about that potential issue or action or legal cause. You can schedule a free consult with us by calling 1-888-999-6600, or you can go online to mclderallcom to schedule your free consult today.