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A will contest, in the law of property, is a formal objection raised against the validity of a will, based on the contention that the will does not reflect the actual intent of the testator (the party who made the will) or that the will is otherwise invalid. Will contests generally focus on the assertion that the testator lacked testamentary capacity, was operating under an insane delusion, or was subject to undue influence or fraud. A will may be challenged in its entirety, or only in part. Only a small fraction of wills are contested, and fewer than 1% of will contests are successful.〔 Courts and legislation generally feel a strong obligation to uphold the final wishes of a testator and, without compelling evidence to the contrary, "the law presumes that a will is valid and accurately reflects the wishes of the person who wrote it."〔 A will may include an ''in terrorem'' clause, with language along the lines of "any person who contests this will shall forfeit his legacy", which operates to disinherit any person who challenges the validity of the will. Such no-contest clauses are permitted under the Uniform Probate Code, which most American states follow at least in part. However, since this clause is within the will itself, a successful challenge to the will renders the clause meaningless. Many states consider such clauses void as a matter of public policy, or valid only if a will is contested without probable cause.〔Uniform Probate Code (UPC) § 2-517. Penalty Clause for Contest, replicated at § 3‑905. Penalty Clause for Contest. Both found at (University of Pennsylvania Law School website page on Uniform Probate Code ). Accessed October 5, 2009.〕 Will contests are more common in the United States than in other countries, and thus this article mainly discusses American law and cases. This prevalence of will contests in the USA exists partly because American laws give people an unusual degree of freedom in disposing of their property and also because "a number of incentives for suing exist in American law outside of the merits of the litigation itself".〔Ronald J. Scalise Jr., (Undue Influence and the Law of Wills: A Comparative Analysis ), 19 DUKE J. COMP. & INT’L L. 41, 99 (2008).〕 Most other legal traditions enforce some type of forced heirship, requiring that a testator leave at least some assets to their family, particularly their spouse and children.〔 ==Standing to contest a will== Typically, standing in the United States to contest the validity of a will is limited to two classes of persons: # Those who are named on the face of the will (i.e. any beneficiary); # Those who would inherit from the testator if the will was invalid The following example is instructive: Monica makes a will leaving $5,000 each to her husband, Chandler, her brother, Ross, her neighbor, Joey, and her best friend, Rachel. Chandler tells Monica that he will divorce her if she does not disown Ross, which would humiliate her; later, Ross tells Monica (untruthfully) that Chandler is having an affair with Phoebe, which Monica believes. Distraught, Monica rewrites her will, disowning ''both'' Chandler and Ross. The attorney who drafts the will accidentally writes the gift to Rachel as $500 instead of $5,000; and also accidentally leaves Joey out entirely. Under these facts, Chandler can contest the will as the product of fraud in the inducement, because if the will is invalid, he will inherit Monica's property, as the surviving spouse. Ross can contest the will as the product of Chandler’s undue influence, because Ross will inherit Monica's property if Chandler’s behavior disqualifies Chandler from inheriting (note, however, that many jurisdictions do not consider a threat of divorce to be undue influence). Rachel has ''standing'' to contest the will, because she is named in the document – but she will not be permitted to submit any evidence as to the mistake because it is not an ambiguous term. Instead, she will have to sue Monica's lawyer for legal malpractice to recover the difference. Finally, Joey is neither someone who stands to inherit from Monica, nor named in the will, and therefore is barred from contesting the will altogether. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Will contest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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