Hypothetical wills question

[heidiwine]

I'm curious as to what would happen in this case.
Just say I inherited a lot of money. Let's call it £100,000. If the will was contested and it was ruled that I had to pay half of the inheritance to the contesting party would I have to pay £50,000 even if the 'pot' had shrunk substantially due to the costs incurred during the legal battle?
Note this hasn't happened I'm just curious about what the situation would be if it did...

They should contest the will before the estate is distributed and you received your inheritance.

If they were awarded 50% of the estate they would get 50% of whatever was left after the estate's legal costs had been deducted. On the other hand, if they were awarded a fixed sum of £50,000 they would have to be paid £50,000 which, in your example and assuming you were the only beneficiary, would be more than 50% of the estate after legal costs had been deducted.

Lovely - thank you!