Because the vast majority of litigated cases — roughly 90% to 97% — are settled outside of court, it’s difficult to determine an exact success rate for contesting a will. However, after reviewing the specifics of your case, an attorney can offer a more informed estimate of your likelihood of success.
Success in a will contest doesn’t always mean winning in court. For many, it means reaching a favorable settlement outside of court — a path that can save time and money while often increasing the likelihood of achieving a satisfying outcome.
When a person dies with a will (meaning they die testate), their will must be admitted to probate to be authenticated. Unless there is clear and convincing evidence to suggest otherwise, the court typically assumes the will to be valid.
While it can be disheartening to learn you were excluded from a loved one’s will, that is not a valid reason to contest it. If, for instance, you were to contest a will because you provided care and support to your loved one in the final months of their life, which you believe entitles you to an inheritance, the chances of you winning a will contest may be slim.
Ultimately, the court is only concerned with whether a decedent’s will is valid. To determine this, it may consider the following:
- Was the will created of the decedent’s own free will?
- Was the decedent of sound mind when creating their will?
- Was the will executed properly?
- Does the will accurately reflect the decedent’s known final intentions?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, the will in question may be invalid. However, the court won’t simply take your word for it — you’ll need to support your claim with clear and convincing evidence.
Due to the potentially high cost of contesting a will, it’s important to evaluate your motivations honestly. If your reasons for contesting the will are primarily personal or emotionally driven, your chances of success may be low. But if your concerns are rooted in legitimate legal issues — such as undue influence, fraud or lack of capacity — your case may have real merit.
That said, success can mean different things to different people. For some, success might mean reaching a favorable settlement that awards them the majority of the estate. For others, it might mean prevailing at trial and recovering attorney’s fees and costs from the opposing party.
An experienced will contest attorney can help you define what success might look like in your case — and assess whether that outcome is realistically attainable.
How Hard Is It to Contest a Will and Win?
Let’s put it this way: Contesting a will isn’t easy — but with strong, compelling evidence that raises real doubt about the document’s validity, winning is entirely possible. Your chances increase significantly when you have skilled and experienced legal representation guiding you through the process and advocating for you in court.
It’s understandable why successfully contesting a will can be difficult. When someone makes the effort to create a will and outline how their assets should be distributed, the court’s default position is to honor those wishes. After all, overriding them too easily would undermine the very purpose of having a will.
That’s why the evidence needed to contest a will must be clear, convincing and substantial. If all you have is personal dissatisfaction or mere suspicion, contesting a will and winning could prove challenging.
What Must You Have to Successfully Contest a Will?
When contesting a will, there are certain guidelines you must meet in order for your contest to succeed. Without meeting these guidelines, not only is success unlikely, but your will contest may not be granted at all.
We review the essentials of contesting a will below.
Ensure You Have Standing and Valid Grounds
You cannot bring a will contest unless you have legal standing and valid grounds for contesting the will. Without both, the court will almost certainly dismiss your case.
Legal standing means you have a financial interest in the outcome of the case. In other words, if a successful will contest would reinstate or increase your inheritance, you likely have standing. But if your share of the estate wouldn’t change or would decrease even if you won, you likely do not have standing.
Those who typically have standing in will contest cases include:
- Beneficiaries named in the current will
- Beneficiaries named in prior wills
- The decedent’s direct heirs (under intestate succession laws)
Legal grounds, on the other hand, refer to legally recognized reasons for contesting a will. To proceed, you must be able to show that your will dispute is based on concerns about the document’s legitimacy — not merely a desire to receive a larger share of the estate.
Acceptable legal grounds for will contests include:
- Undue influence
- Fraud
- Lack of capacity
- Forgery
- Mistake
- Lack of due execution (e.g., missing witnesses or signatures)
- Revocation of will (i.e., the will was replaced or intentionally destroyed)
If you lack standing or valid grounds, there’s little legal recourse — and virtually no chance of a successful outcome.
Timely-Filed Petition
Will contests that are not filed within the statutory deadline are generally time-barred, which is why it’s critical to act quickly — ideally as soon as you receive notice of the initial probate hearing from the executor of the estate.
If you haven’t been provided a copy of the will, it’s important you secure one. You can do this by requesting a copy from the executor or the county clerk’s office where the petition for probate was filed.
While it’s possible to contest a will after it has been admitted to probate, doing so means petitioning the court to revoke that admission — a process that can be more costly and complex. In most cases, it’s preferable to object before the will is admitted to probate.
Objecting to a will’s admission to probate can be done by:
- Filing a written objection to the will’s admission to probate (along with a will contest petition), or
- Appearing in court to object in person at the initial hearing.
If you are an interested party, the executor must provide you with notice of the initial probate proceeding at least 15 days in advance of the hearing date.
If you miss the opportunity to object before the hearing and the will is admitted to probate, you can still challenge it, but you must file your will contest within 120 days of the admission date, according to California Probate Code section 8270.
While courts may grant extensions in very rare cases, the statute of limitations for contesting a will is typically firm. For this reason, it’s safest to assume the deadline will apply.
What Could Make It Easier to Successfully Contest a Will?
As you know, contesting a will can be complex, but certain factors can significantly improve your chances of success should you decide to move forward.
Keep in mind, however, that the list below is not exhaustive — nor does the presence of any one factor guarantee a favorable outcome.
For instance, while the exclusion of a decedent’s heirs from a will may raise red flags, it doesn’t automatically mean the will is invalid. But such circumstances do often warrant a closer look to determine whether that decision was free of undue influence and legally sound.
Exclusion of Heirs From Will
While it’s certainly unusual when a decedent’s closest heirs are excluded from their will, it’s not always a cause for alarm. In some cases, the decedent may have intentionally chosen to disinherit certain individuals, and the will may still be legally valid.
That said, when close heirs — such as children or a longtime spouse — are omitted from a will without explanation, it often warrants further examination. There may be a legitimate reason, such as a history of estrangement or the decedent having provided for heirs through alternate means. But in other instances, the omission could signal potential wrongdoing, such as undue influence or fraud.
Suppose a decedent created her will after divorcing her first husband and named all her children as equal estate beneficiaries. Later, she remarried. Not long after her second marriage, she fell seriously ill. During this period of vulnerability, she executed a codicil to her will that completely disinherited her children and left everything to her new husband. After her passing, her children — who had a close, loving relationship with her and had always been assured they would inherit — are shocked by the sudden reversal.
In this example, the exclusion of direct heirs raises significant red flags. Not only had the decedent previously expressed her intent to leave her estate to her children, but the timing of the change — during a serious illness and shortly after remarriage — suggests she may have been vulnerable to undue influence. If this is proven to be the case, it would render her will invalid.
Improperly Executed Will
In California, there is a statutory process for executing a will that generally must be followed for the document to be considered valid. When this process is not followed, it can jeopardize the enforceability of the will.
In recent years, however, the rise of do-it-yourself estate planning software has led courts to take a more flexible approach in some cases. For example, if someone creates a will using an online template and signs it without witnesses, the document may still be honored — especially if there is strong evidence the decedent intended it to serve as their will.
While it may be easier today to create a will without strictly adhering to every statutory formality, doing so makes the will more vulnerable to challenges. A will that doesn’t meet the standard requirements may be more easily contested — whether due to questions about its validity or confusion caused by ambiguous terms.
What makes a will legal and valid in California? Whether a will is valid in California depends on how it was created — specifically, whether it is typewritten/printed or handwritten (known as a holographic will).
According to Probate Code section 6110, in order for a typewritten/printed will to be valid, it must:
- Be in writing (typed or printed)
- Be signed by one of the following:
- The testator (the person making the will); or
- Another person signing the testator’s name in the testator’s presence and at their direction; or
- A court-appointed conservator acting under a specific court order.
- Be signed by at least two witnesses, who:
- Are present at the same time
- Witness either the testator signing the will or the testator acknowledging their signature on the will
- Understand that the document they are signing is the testator’s will
According to Probate Code section 6111, in order for a holographic will to be valid, it must:
- Be handwritten by the testator (the person making the will)
- Include the testator’s signature
- Contain all the material terms (i.e., who gets what) in the testator’s handwriting
While holographic wills are legal in California, they’re generally more susceptible to contests than standard typewritten wills.
Consider an example of a will that was contested successfully by Keystone. The will was handwritten by the elderly decedent’s caregiver and signed with an “X.” The document excluded the decedent’s closest surviving heir, who retained Keystone to challenge the will. The result? A highly favorable settlement, thanks to clear evidence that the will was improperly executed. Had the will been typewritten and met execution requirements, contesting its validity might have been more difficult.
It’s worth noting Probate Code section 6111.5 allows the court to consider extrinsic evidence — such as letters, emails and witness testimony — to help determine whether a document qualifies as a valid will. This means the will itself is not your only tool when scrutinizing its legitimacy.
Suspicious Circumstances Around Signing of Will
When there are unusual or suspicious circumstances surrounding the signing of a will — such as a decedent making major changes from their deathbed or signing the document while cognitively impaired — there’s a real possibility the will could be found invalid.
For a will to be valid, the testator must:
- Understand they are creating a will and what it does
- Know the nature of their property and their relationships to family members and potential beneficiaries
- Create the will voluntarily, free of undue influence
- Be free of delusions, hallucinations and confusion at the time of signing
This level of awareness required to sign a will is referred to as testamentary capacity.
Imagine an estranged adult child reenters his elderly mother’s life after learning she’s terminally ill. He gradually becomes her primary caregiver, eventually moving into her home. During this time, he doesn’t notify the rest of the family about her declining condition. After her death, the family is shocked to receive a copy of a new will — one that heavily favors the child and contradicts what they understood to be her final wishes. It appears the will was signed while she was in and out of consciousness, shortly before she passed.
In a case like this, the sudden reappearance of an heir, the secrecy, the deathbed changes and the testator’s vulnerability all raise red flags. These facts suggest the possibility of undue influence, fraud or even duress — and would certainly warrant further investigation.
When a will is signed under suspicious or coercive circumstances, the chances of successfully contesting the will often improve. However, it’s important to note that proving undue influence or other suspicious or coercive circumstances can be complex. Unlike a clear-cut case of improper execution, claims like undue influence or lack of capacity generally require detailed evidence like witness testimony, medical records or verifiable patterns of manipulation.
Lack of Opposition or Weak Defense
When a will is contested and no one steps forward to defend it, the contest may be significantly easier to win. The same is generally true if the opposing side presents a weak or unsupported defense.
Suppose an executor discovers an older will in the decedent’s safety deposit box at their former bank. Upon reviewing it, the executor realizes its terms are completely different from the terms of a more recent will they previously submitted to the court — one that had been provided to them by the decedent’s surviving spouse. Given that the newer will heavily favors the spouse, it raises the executor’s suspicions.
The executor, believing the newly discovered will better reflects the decedent’s true intentions, files a petition to contest the admitted will. The spouse, recognizing the weakness of their position and the strength of the executor’s evidence, chooses not to oppose the contest.
In such a situation, especially if the executor presents clear and convincing evidence that the older will was intended by the decedent to serve as their last will and testament, the court may be persuaded to revoke probate of the newer will and admit the older one in its place.
That said, it’s rare for a will contest to go entirely undefended. In most cases:
- The executor will defend the will if they believe it is valid and accurately reflects the decedent’s intentions.
- If the executor is the one contesting the will (e.g., after discovering a conflicting document), the defense may come from beneficiaries named in the contested will whose inheritances are at stake.
Why Do You Need a Probate Attorney to Successfully Contest a Will?
A will contest can be a complicated legal process — one that requires more than just frustration or suspicion with how an estate is being divided. And without the right legal representation, even genuine concerns about the validity of a will can be difficult to prove.
Discover how a probate attorney can improve your chances of successfully contesting a will below.
Probate Expertise
For a will contest to succeed, it takes more than just vague claims — a deep, working knowledge of probate law is required. While red flags or inconsistencies in a will may not be obvious to an average person, a skilled probate attorney can spot them quickly and build a legal strategy that aligns with both the facts of your case and your desired outcome.
Attorneys who focus exclusively on probate litigation bring a level of specialization that general practitioners usually can’t match. They understand the nuances of the California Probate Code, and local court procedures — and, most importantly, how to respond effectively to unexpected challenges.
Because the stakes in will contests are often high, having an experienced probate attorney on your side gives you the best possible chance of achieving a favorable result — whether that means winning in court or negotiating a strong settlement.
Evidence-Gathering
Contesting a will and winning often comes down to your ability to collect and present clear and convincing evidence that demonstrates the will is more likely than not invalid. Without proper probate expertise, knowing what evidence to gather, where to find it and how to present it effectively to the court can be extremely difficult — if not impossible.
An experienced probate attorney knows how to conduct comprehensive discovery, subpoena critical documents, interview key witnesses and identify red flags others might overlook. It’s important to remember that courts begin with the presumption that a will is valid. That means even a legitimate claim can fail without a strategic approach — something only a skilled probate attorney generally is equipped to provide.
Legal Representation in Settlement Negotiations and Court
Most will contests settle outside of court, and having the right legal representation during negotiations can be the difference between a favorable settlement and one that’s less than ideal. A skilled attorney can help you assess whether a proposed settlement is fair, as well as push for better terms if it’s not.
If your case proceeds to trial, your attorney will serve as your advocate in court, ensuring your matter is presented as convincingly as possible. From examining witnesses to arguing your case, they will take care of the heavy lifting, making it so all you have to do is show up.
Takeaway: What Are the Chances of Contesting a Will and Winning?
Although it can feel daunting to pursue a will contest without clear data on how often these cases succeed, the absence of hard numbers shouldn’t deter you. If you have valid legal grounds and believe the necessary evidence can be gathered, contesting the will may still be well worth pursuing — especially with the guidance of an experienced attorney.
That said, every case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits. For example, if you have concerns about a decedent’s mental capacity but lack medical records or credible witnesses to support your claim, an attorney may advise against moving forward. Conversely, even if evidence isn’t immediately available, an attorney may still recommend proceeding if they believe strong evidence can be uncovered through discovery.
In short, even if it were possible to derive an exact success rate for contesting a will, solely relying on that number wouldn’t be useful — especially since that statistic wouldn’t account for contests that are settled favorably outside of court.
What matters most is the strength of your case. An experienced will contest attorney can provide a realistic assessment of your specific chances.
Is It Worth Contesting a Will?
While an attorney can provide valuable guidance on whether pursuing a will contest would be worthwhile in your situation, the final decision ultimately rests with you.
Start by evaluating what’s at stake. If the estate assets in question are minimal — say, $50,000 — it may not be financially sensible to pursue a case that could cost more than that amount to litigate.
Next, consider the strength of your claim. Do you have valid legal grounds for contesting the will? Do you have — or can you secure — the kind of clear and convincing evidence the court requires to invalidate a will? If your evidence is weak, it could be difficult to succeed at trial, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all hope is lost.
In some cases, even with limited evidence, it may be possible to negotiate a favorable settlement, depending on the unique circumstances of your case and the willingness of your opponent to compromise.
If you’re unsure whether contesting a will is the right path for you, speaking with an experienced probate litigation attorney can help you assess your case’s strengths and weaknesses, and make an informed decision.
Still have questions about how often contesting a will is successful?
At Keystone Law Group, we understand how difficult it is to face significant legal decisions — such as whether to contest a will — while grieving the loss of a loved one. Whether you’re still weighing your options or are ready to take action, our experienced probate attorneys are here to help.
You deserve support, clarity and the inheritance that’s rightfully yours. Let us shoulder the legal burden so you can focus on what matters most. Call Keystone today to discover how our probate attorneys can assist you.
