What happens if the Will submitted to Court after the Testator dies isn't "valid"?
For a Will to be legally valid, it needs to fulfil some basic requirements:
- Testator has to be
- at least age 21 (unless soldier or sailor)
- Have testamentary capacity
- Be free from the effects of undue influence or fraud
- Have known of and approved the contents of the Will
- Will to be signed by Testator and 2 Witnesses
- The two witnesses must be at least 21 years old and cannot be beneficiaries or spouse of the beneficiaries. The term "beneficiaries" includes all beneficiaries, trust beneficiaries, remainder beneficiaries, and any substitutes for these beneficiaries in the Will.
There's also other things such as the numbering of pages, the placement of signature etc. But don't worry too much about that -- through getArrange.com, the entire system is vetted by a practicing lawyer from David Nayar and Associates.
The signing instructions and the testator's declaration are printed on our generated Will. We make sure the process is safe for all to use, and more importantly our Certified Estate Planners also examine the planning aspects of it beyond just the distribution discussion.
When the Will is submitted to Court to apply for the Grant of Probate, the Court typically do check through to make sure things are in order. Where there's any doubts, the Court may require an affidavit to seek clarification, such as the relationship between the Testator and the witnesses (i.e. if the witnesses are beneficiaries / spouse of beneficiaries) etc.
If for some reason by then the witnesses are unable to be called up (e.g. they have already died or lost mental capacity), it doesn't mean the Will becomes invalid.
However, like everything else in the world, nothing is foolproof. If for any reason there's doubts on the validity (e.g. suspect there is undue influence on the Testator or that the Testator wasn't of sound mind) then "someone" will need to contest the Will and for the outcome to be determined by the court (or the parties involved may reach a settlement). There's no exact restriction on who can contest the Will. However, if the Court does not require any further clarification and no one contests the Will, then it will proceed as if the Will IS VALID.
If you have a genuine case that requires legal consultation, you might want to consider consulting a lawyer via the " Consult Lawyer" function accordingly. (charged separately) Please note that law firms typically do not answer theoretical "what if" questions as a lot of which depends on the exact circumstance.