An interesting will challenge emerged from a Texas court recently when the ex-wife of a successful doctor was named his sole heir in a will executed the same morning that their divorce was finalized. The will was challenged by an alleged daughter of the doctor but, despite numerous warnings by the court to appear, never showed up to hearings with the ex-wife ultimately winning by default. Perhaps it was the court ordered DNA test to prove paternity that kept her away or the fact she had not seen her father in 20 years but for a slice of a $3 million estate you would expect even a scammer to at least make an effort especially due to the odd circumstances of the will’s creation and execution. But one lesson can be learned from all this: if you want to play ball, you gotta show up to the stadium.
See Kyle Krull, How do I Contest a Will?, Kansas Missouri Estate Planning, December 23, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.
