How much is it to contest a will ?

[Lifesforloving1]

Rough price on contest a will… ?

If it was a long drawn out case, we were told it could be up to 6 figures with no guarantee of success.

What country are you in?

Are you a dependant of the deceased?

It really is how long is a piece of string. It could be a few solicitor letters and you reach a compromise so maybe less than a thousand pounds - if you were really lucky. If you go to court and fight it could certainly be hundreds of thousands depending on how complicated the issues and estate are.

It makes no sense to me how wills can be contested!
What is even the point in leaving a will of your wishes if people can override it anyway!

@DropYourSword Perhaps if you change your Will under duress or lack mental capacity to do so. At work, if someone makes significant changes to their Will, we have to keep an attendance note or a side letter with the Will in case it is contested at a later date. Say someone previously left their estate to their children in equal shares and then decided to leave everything to their gardener - if the Will was made with a solicitor there would be paperwork on file documenting the reasons for the change.
If it’s a Will made with a kit from WHSmiths and witnesses are the gardener’s two best friends, the children would probably want to contest it!

On what grounds would you contest?
You can't contest a will just because you don't like what it says.

DropYourSword I 100% agree with you. The word "will" says it all you would have thought

A lot - to the extent that it's probably not worth it. What grounds are you contesting it on?

go get an estimate....hard to answer your question...my grandmother started this procedure years ago as her sister had dementia and new will left it all to her brother....was advised to stop proceedings as would be lenghty and no guarantee of winning so to speak.....

Going all the way to court costs a lot , in time, money and emotional labour. It's very rarely worth it.

But if there's tens of thousands at stake and you think (after doing a bit of online research or maybe even posting more details here) that something is seriously wrong then it's probably worth getting the details together and having a (paid) consultation with a specialist solicitor who can write a letter to the other parties which might motivate a reasonable settlement.

I had a friend whose dad's wife contested his will. After I think the first hearing, they went to a higher court and the judge basically told them there wasn't enough money in the estate to keep fighting. He sent them out of the court to reach an agreement, which they did. They will never speak to each other again.

The whole experience was unbelievably awful and cost tens of thousands. Think about 15 times before you consider this.

There are many solicitors in the U.K. who will give you a preliminary consultation on this subject FOC in the hope of a no win no fee arrangement.