How Does A Will Contest Work?
The California Probate Code provides that “any person interested” may contest a will either before the hearing where the will is admitted to probate or within 120 days after the will has been admitted to probate by the court. A will may be contested by an heir who is a person that is related to the decedent in such a manner that if the will did not exist, that person would inherit the property. For example, if the decedent leaves money to a “friend” and the children of the decedent contest the will and win, the will would not exist and the children would inherit the estate by intestate succession (see that section) as the decedent’s closest heirs. Also, a beneficiary (a person named in a will to receive the assets of the estate) under an earlier will under certain circumstances may also contest a will. In the same situation, imagine that a prior will left everything to the children, but a later will left everything to the “friend”. By winning the contest, under certain circumstances, t
