undue influence

One of the claims to contest a will is Undue Influence. The WillCaveat.com post link below discusses the Undue Influence challenge as grounds for contesting a will.

North Carolina courts defines Undue Influence as the fraudulent influence over the mind and will of another to the extent that the professed action is not freely done but is in truth the act of the one who procures the result.

The law requires that in order to state a prima facie case on the issue of undue influence, a caveator must prove the existence of 4 factors:

Scenario: A person dies, also known as the Decedent or Testator, and leaves a last will and testament. However, beneficiaries/heirs, either by intestate or by prior wills, think the will maker, aka the Testator, would not have made the will the way he or she did had they been of right mind.

What do you do?

There is a process in North Carolina called a Caveat Proceeding. That's a challenge of the will.

Grounds for challenging the Last Will and Testament are: