if a family member left all their money to charity would you contest the Will?

Question

Just asking!

An awful lot to animals!! None to daughter or other members of family.

Answer 1

Charity already makes millions. So I don't feel bad for them.
As for the dead person's will: It depends who it is and how much money is involved.
A distant uncle leaving ten dollars to charity? Don't care.
A father leaving ten million to charity and none to his children?
I would disagree with him. It means he explicitly excluded them - possibly in order to hurt them - and I can't find a lot of respect for such wishes.

Answer 2

Simple advice first: You have very little, if any, chances of success. A will can be contested if one of the three criteria for a valid will have not been met. 1. Capacity - ie was the will maker (testator) of full age and sound mind when they made the will? Sound mind is assumed, unless there is evidence to the contrary. You will need specific medical evidence of a mental impairment (eg senility) when the will was made to succeed. You will need to show that this condition prevented the testator from understanding they were making a will, what that meant, and who the could possibly be considered as beneficiaries - ie did she know she had family but ignored them (OK) or did she think she had no family (possible problem with will). Being objectionable or not liking her family is not enough. 2. Formalities - ie is the will signed and witnessed correctly? This will almost certainly be the case if the will was made professionally. 3. Intention - ie did the testator intend to make a will, and to make the specific will in question? Again, this is assumed unless there is some specific issue. If the testator was blind or illiterate then extra formalities are required. If the will was prepared by a major beneficiary then there is an assumption that there may have been some duress. Overall there is little ground to challenge most wills most of the time. You certainly cannot challenge a will because you don't like it or because you think you should have had something. Although many families seem to expect it, you do not have a right to any inheritance. There is legal provision to provide maintenance to dependants who are not adequately provided for in a will. But the key thing is dependants. This is usually limited to the spouse or children under 18. Adult children who have moved away from the family home (and their own children etc) will almost certainly not be dependant. One final thing, please don't criticise the charity. Charities rely on donations, and a major source of these is bequests from wills. Trustees of charities have a legal duty to act in the best interests of the charity, which means to maximise the income. If a legal will leaves money to a charity there is a duty on the charity to take that money and use it for their purposes.

Answer 3

No, I wouldn't. Now, the woman who left $12 million to her damn dog instead of giving it to charity or her grandchildren?!? Yeah, I'd take the situation to court. What the hell is a dog going to do with $12 million?!? Just think, all that money is being used to pamper a *DOG* that doesn't have any concept of money whatsoever, when it could be getting used to find a cure for cancer or AIDS.

Answer 4

No, its their money, they earned it.

If it's say a father who's got a mortgage and a family to support then that should be taken care of first but i don't think anyone should profit from death if the dead person would rather give it to charity but other people shouldn't be left out of pocket.

Answer 5

No, I wouldn't. A person has the right to do whatever they want with their money. If one of my relatives were to die and leave a fortune to charity, I would support their decision. I do not feel that squabbling about another person's money/possessions is an appropriate funeral rite.

Answer 6

Their charity must have been pretty dear to their heart if they decided to leave it with them, instead of a poor, low income community teacher like me.

Actually my aunt left everything to her second husband. He struggled on in a wheel chair with alzheimer's disease for 3 months after her death. So, she left the money with the nursing home to care for him as long as he lived.

Since he died only three months later, they got to keep the rest of my inheritance (that she originally promised me). I think that they are calling it even....

Answer 7

Absolutely not. I would never go against a dead person's wishes. Especially with something like charity.

Answer 8

Nope. It was their money, not mine so they can do whatever they want with it. Just because I'm a family membership doesn't mean that I should get anything from them when they die.

Answer 9

Depends. If I had helped them earn that money, yes I would contest the will.

If I hadn't, I wouldn't contest the will UNLESS they were leaving it all to their cat or something, but you said charity, so nope.

Answer 10

If that was their last wish,whats the problem?I have been an excecutor three times now,my job to carry out their wishes to the letter,and thats what i did.