Contesting a Will: Grounds and Process

Not liking how a will divides an estate isn't grounds to challenge it — Florida law generally lets people leave their property to whomever they choose. A will contest has to be based on one of a specific set of legal grounds, and has to be brought by someone with legal standing to raise it.

Valid grounds for a challenge

The recognized grounds are: the will wasn't properly executed under Florida's formal signing and witnessing requirements, the person lacked testamentary capacity (didn't understand what they were signing, what they owned, or who their natural heirs were) at the time they signed, undue influence (someone improperly pressured or manipulated the person into terms that don't reflect their actual wishes), fraud, or that a later, valid will revoked the one being offered for probate.

Who can contest, and when

Standing generally belongs to "interested persons" — those who would inherit under the will, under a prior will, or under Florida's intestacy law if there were no will at all. Florida imposes a strict deadline: generally 90 days from receiving formal notice of administration, or 20 days from receiving a copy of the will if notice was properly served alongside it. Missing this window generally forecloses a challenge entirely, regardless of how strong the underlying claim might have been.

What the evidence usually looks like

Undue influence and capacity challenges often turn on circumstantial evidence: the timing of changes relative to a decline in health, whether the person who benefited was involved in arranging the new will, whether the new terms represent a dramatic and unexplained departure from a long-standing prior plan, and medical or witness testimony about the person's mental state at the time of signing.