People who draft wills often assume that they never have to worry about estate planning again. However, there are scenarios in which a will may not serve its intended purpose during probate court proceedings. In some cases, people may contest the use of a will by asserting that there are issues with the document.
Could beneficiaries and other interested parties contest the use of a will by claiming that it is too old to be valid?
Wills do not expire while the testator is alive
The idea that a will could expire theoretically makes sense. The law does not invalidate a will or force a testator to update their documents simply because a certain amount of time has passed. In theory, a will drafted when a testator turned 18 could remain in effect until they pass away in their 80s. A testamentary instrument does not expire simply because a testator never replaced it with newer documents.
There is a limit to the usefulness of a will after a testator dies. Typically, surviving family members have up to four years from the date of an individual’s passing to present a will to the probate courts. If families discover a will many years after an individual passed, it may no longer hold any authority in the probate courts.
Understanding the rules that limit the use of a will can help people evaluate whether a will is valid and enforceable. Even decades-old testamentary instruments generally retain their legal validity if families initiate probate proceedings promptly after an individual’s passing. Yet, people creating or reviewing their estate plans need to know about the rules that govern wills to better ensure that their documents remain valid, as complications can arise under certain circumstances.