On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 15:05:14 GMT, Hans Downe
<phoneyaddress@mailbox.com> wrote:
Generally speaking,is it true that when several seemingly valid wills
are presented for probate and an individual with "standing" is
challenging
all of them (because he/she is completely dis-inherited in all of
them),does
the probate court examine the challenges one at a time,or
simultaneously?
In other words,if the challenger succeeds in overturning the latest of
them,
does the same process then begin for the second most recent,etc,etc?
If it makes a difference,we're in PA.
It had been my understanding that the court should start with the last
will and work backwards until it found the last valid will of the
decedent, and that the intestate heirs and beneficiaries under
previous wills would have standing to challenge the last will.
However, this has been somewhat muddied by the decision of the
Pennsylvania Superior Court in the Briskman Estate, in which the court
seemed to suggest that you have to work forward, first finding which
was the first valid will in order to determine who has standing to
challenge the next will, and so forth. (See
http://evans-legal.com/dan/briskman.html for details.)
As a practical matter, it should be up to the discretion of the trial
judge to decide in what order to hear multiple contests, and whether
they should be decided seriatim or all at once.
*Dan Evans
*"One is not superior merely because one
*sees the world as odious."
*Francios Rene de Chateaubriand (1768-1848).
