All interested parties to a will that was executed in Washington must be notified in the event of a will contest.Those who are listed in the document itself are considered to be actual parties to the will and must be included in the list of interested parties. Furthermore, anyone who was listed in a previous version of the document could also need to be informed of a planned will contest.
Generally speaking, anyone who is related to the deceased testator could be an interested party in this type of a probate matter. It is also possible that friends, colleagues or other people could need to be contacted about a will challenge even if they aren’t listed in the will itself. Those who could be considered interested parties to the will contest have the option of participating in any case that makes its way before a judge.
Assuming that one was named in the testator’s will, the executor is generally required to defend the estate from any challenges that may arise. Challenges could come from family members, creditors or others who believe that a will is unfair or was changed because of the undue influence of another person or entity.
An executor may want to have an attorney help with a will contest or with any other issues that may arise. An attorney may be able to answer questions that an executor may have or assist with other tasks such as filing a tax return or inventorying assets. Having legal counsel may help to limit an executor’s liability in the event that a mistake is made or minimize the chances of a mistake occurring at all.
