can a will over rule a beneficiary in a estate case?

Question

can a will over rule a beneficiary in a estate case?

Answer

Your question unfortunately makes absolutely no sense. The heirs in a will are beneficiaries. Try asking your question without legal terms. It cannot be answered as posted.

Answer

Have to agree with Attorney Ashman here. Your post makes no sense.

A will is a will. If it is valid, then the beneficiaries get whatever is disbursed to them in the will. If someone is disinherited and disgruntled (usually an heir and someone who will stand to benefit financially if the will is tossed out) can bring what is called a caveat proceeding. The heir (called the caveator) will have to prove either that the will is invalid on some grounds (either not witnessed or signed appropriately or that the person who made the will lacked sufficient mental capacity) or they will seek to invalidate the will on other grounds like fraud or undue influence.

If successful in getting the will tossed out, then the heir would be able to inherit under state intestacy laws; since the will is a nullity, its terms do not control.

In answer to the question - can a will be overridden? The answer can be yes in certain cases where the grounds are met. However, caveat proceedings are expensive and there have to be grounds for a caveat. If the will was properly drafted and none of the other things apply (no fraud, undue influence or mental defect), then it does not matter how much the heir pitches a fit - the will is probably going to be upheld.

Where things get more interesting is where the will is not real clear on what something means and beneficiaries fight over it. But that does not mean that a disinherited heir can get something.

Sometimes, an executor may make an executive decision that it will be in the best interest of the estate just to give something to the disgruntled heir or beneficiary to avoid a costly lawsuit. So a will can be overridden in that sense as well.

Since your post is unclear and since it is very necessary for an attorney to review a will in order to advise you, my suggestion would be for the heir or beneficiary to get a copy of the will (court records, like wills, are public records and can be accessed by anyone) and pay a probate attorney who practices in the county/state where the estate is pending to review the will and advise as to what it says and why or why not it could be overridden by any factors. The beneficiary/heir also needs to carefully weigh the cost of any litigation like a caveat versus what the beneficiary/heir stands to gain or lose to decide if its worth it.

Family emotions run high in these cases and stuff can get real expensive real quick. If nobody has any money to burn or the estate lacks funds, then litigation is not really going to be in anyone's best interests.