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Hey everybody , this is attorney Wesley

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White with McIntyre Elder Law . Today

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I wanted to talk to you about kind

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of a unique topic which some of you may

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have heard about , but it's

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called a will caveat

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. Most of you have probably heard

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of a last will in testament . Many of

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you probably have one , or your parents have

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one , or you've had a loved one

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pass away and they've had to , or

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you or somebody else has had

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to , probate that will at

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the courthouse . But

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some of you might be familiar

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with the fact that you can actually

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challenge the

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validity of a will or you

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can actually have someone challenge the validity

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of your will , and

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so that's why it's important to make sure that you

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do have a valid will . But let's talk a minute

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about what it is to challenge

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a will and what the procedure or

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what takes place if a will is actually

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being challenged . In North Carolina

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, challenging the validity of a

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will is called a caveat . That's

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C-A-V-E-A-T

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and what that is . That

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allows someone it might

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be the heir of an estate or

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the relative or loved one of

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the person who passed away to

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come into court and try

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to tell the court that hey

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, this will here is

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not valid , and there's

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typically a couple , three basis

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to say that a will is not

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valid . One of the first basis

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of challenging a will is

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to say that the will is

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not valid because the person who signed

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it didn't actually have

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the capacity to sign

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the will . Best example would be if

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someone with advanced

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dementia who

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doesn't even know what their

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name is , what day of the week it is , what

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year it is , they

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don't really have the capacity to sign

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a will , and what we call that is we

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say that they have lack of testamentary

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capacity . They weren't

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in the right mind to be able

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to make that will . So if

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you ever come across a will

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that was signed by someone that

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had advanced dementia maybe

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they were in a coma , they had amnesia

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, anything that would not

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allow them to understand what they were

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signing that will could be challenged

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. You could file a caveat based on them

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lacking the capacity

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to sign the will Just one way

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. Another way is if

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the will was signed

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, but it was signed

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under undue influence . Best

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example would be let's say

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somebody moves in with your elderly

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mother , a caretaker , for example

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and they're the only person who's been around

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your mother for months and years

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on end . They pay their bills , they feed

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them dinner , they bathe them and

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essentially they say

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, hey , I'm not going to feed you and bathe you and take

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care of your house unless you sign

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this will , leaving everything

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to me . Well , mom

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may have good mental

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capacity to sign it , she

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may understand what she's signing , but

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she was influenced unduly

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. She was unduly influenced by that caretaker

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. Basically , she's held hostage

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. If I don't sign this will , I'm

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not going to get dinner tonight , I'm not going to get

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my house taken care of , I'm not going to get a

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bath . And so if

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a situation like that happened , you

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or a loved one could file a caveat

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on the basis of undue influence

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, because it's not right . The circumstances

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under which that will were signed is

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not right . You always want to have

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a will signed without

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any duress , without

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any influence . You do it freely

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of your own will . And then , lastly

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, you can also contest

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a will by means of a

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caveat If the will itself

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is fraudulent . An example of

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that would be is if , literally , someone

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forged a signature

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on a will and got a notary

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to forge the notary as

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well , and obviously that's clearly

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fraud , because a will a valid will in

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North Carolina must be signed

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by the person making that will

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, it has to be witnessed by two people

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and it has to be notarized . And

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if those three things didn't happen , if

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somebody just you know , an estranged

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cousin forges your

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loved one's name on that will

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, that's fraud , and

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a caveat can be brought

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on the basis of fraud as well . Often

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we see caveats based

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on all three things . You

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might have a situation where there was undue influence

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, there was a lack

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of capacity and there was some

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fraud involved , and so it's

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important when you get into the area

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of probate , if

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you , if you think a loved

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one's will has any issue

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, if you think it's not valid , if somebody

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exerted some undue

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influence over your loved one and

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calls them to leave

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all their property , all their money

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, all their things that they worked

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their whole life for , to one

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person who normally wasn't around

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. Maybe they left it all to a church or just

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something . That doesn't seem right . That

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might be right for a caveat . And

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here at here at McIntyre Elder Law , we

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, we litigate caveats

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and we do challenges to wills all

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the time . It's a , it's

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a , it's a ugly necessity

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, but sometimes you find yourself

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in that situation . But that's why it's

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also important that , if that , if you

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are doing a will . Make sure

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that your will has everything

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buttoned up , make sure the eyes are dotted

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, the T's are crossed , that you

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, that you are signing this will in front

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of witnesses and that you

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are of clear mental

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capacity . No one's making

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you do it . And then , that way down

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the road , when you pass away

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, no one's going to come in and try to

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challenge your will on the basis

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of one of these issues that I've talked about

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. Come see us here at the firm and we

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can help you with

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a caveat . We can help you defend against

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the caveat filing and we can help

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you make sure that you have your estate

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planning squared away so that you have peace of mind

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that when things , when

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it comes time to probate your estate , things

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are going to go smoothly and your wishes

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are going to be carried out just as you wrote

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them down . Until next time , I hope

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everyone has a good holiday

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season , thanks .