Execution Formalities in a Will Contest in New York

The Will Was Not Made Correctly

For a will to be valid, the people involved in the will execution need to follow New York’s formal requirements. If they did not correctly execute the will, we could successfully contest that will, leading to the will being overturned and invalidated by the Surrogate’s Court. In figuring out how to contest a will, you will need to be familiar with the formal requirements of will execution.

The will need to meet the formal requirements, which are as follows:

1. The person making the will has to sign the will (or direct someone else to sign their will in their presence)
2. The person making the will has to sign at the end of the will, not in the middle of it.
3. There needs to be two witnesses to the will
4. The person making the will has to sign the will in the presence of each witness
5. The person making the will must communicate to the witnesses that they are witnessing a will
6. everyone has to complete the entire ceremony within 30 days of the testator’s signature

The people involved have to follow New York execution formalities. Problems come up with wills when the person does not declare the document to be their will, or the witnesses are not there or not fully there. We can use those “hiccups” to litigate a successful will contest in New York.

In the modern world where there is little place for ceremony, it is interesting to see how ceremony, procedure and something remarkably close to tradition or etiquette can make or break a legal document of utmost importance.

Will Printed from the Internet vs. Attorney-Drafted Will – When a person prints out a will from the internet or fills out a store-bought form, they are playing Russian Roulette with the validity of their will. Contesting a DIY will is relatively easy. No estate attorney would testify that the will met all the requirements of a valid will execution because no attorney was involved.