Contesting a will in the UK: the grounds, the time limits and what it costs
How contesting a will works in England and Wales: the grounds for a challenge, the six-month limit for Inheritance Act claims, caveats and who pays the costs.
What does contesting a will actually mean?
Contesting a will means asking the court either to set it aside or to change how the estate is shared, depending on what you object to. If you think the document itself is flawed, because it was not made properly or does not reflect what the person who died really wanted, you are challenging its validity, and if you succeed the estate passes under an earlier valid will or, if there is none, under the intestacy rules. If you accept the will is genuine but believe it leaves you without reasonable financial provision, you claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 instead, so the will stands but the court can order payments or property to you.
Two narrower routes sit alongside these. Rectification corrects a will that fails to carry out the person's intentions because of a clerical error or a misunderstanding of their instructions, whilst complaints about how executors run the estate are a separate matter. Our guide to the intestacy rules explains who inherits if no valid will remains.
What are the grounds for contesting a will?
The grounds for challenging validity are about how the will was made and the state of mind of the person making it.
Formalities: under section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 a will must be in writing and signed by the person making it (or by someone else in their presence and at their direction), with the signature made or acknowledged in front of two witnesses present at the same time, who each then sign (or acknowledge their signature) in the person's presence. Wills made between 31 January 2020 and 31 January 2024 could be witnessed by video.
Capacity: the courts still apply the test from Banks v Goodfellow (1870), which means the person must have understood what making a will involves, the extent of their property and the claims of those they ought to consider, without a disorder of the mind distorting their judgement.
Knowledge and approval: the court has to be satisfied that the person actually knew and approved what the will said, which is a separate question from whether they had capacity.
Undue influence: this means pressure that overpowers what the person wants without convincing their judgement, and the burden of proving it lies on whoever alleges it, so evidence that is merely consistent with pressure is not enough.
Revocation: a will can be revoked by a later will or codicil, by a signed and witnessed document saying so, or by being destroyed with that intention, and in England and Wales marriage or civil partnership revokes an earlier will under sections 18 and 18B of the Wills Act unless it was made in expectation of it.
Two related rules often surprise families. A gift to a witness, or to a witness's spouse or civil partner, is void under section 15 of the Wills Act whilst the rest of the will stands, and divorce does not revoke a will, but unless the will says otherwise the former spouse is treated as if they had died on the date of the divorce. The Law Commission's final report of 16 May 2025 recommends ending the rule that marriage revokes a will, but that is for the government to decide and the rule remains in force.
Can you claim if a will leaves you out?
You can if you fall into one of the categories in section 1 of the 1975 Act and the person who died was domiciled in England and Wales. Those categories are a spouse or civil partner, a former spouse or civil partner who has not remarried or formed a new civil partnership, someone who lived with the person as a couple for the whole of the two years before the death, a child of the person who died, someone treated as a child of the family, and anyone else the person was maintaining immediately before the death.
Being eligible is only the start, because you then have to show that the will (or the intestacy rules) does not make reasonable financial provision for you. For a spouse or civil partner that means what would be reasonable in all the circumstances, whether or not it is needed for their maintenance, whereas for everyone else, including adult children, it is limited to what is reasonable for their maintenance. The court weighs the applicant's means and needs against the beneficiaries', the size of the estate and any obligations the person who died owed.
This is why a sibling or adult child who is left out has no automatic right to a share. In Ilott v The Blue Cross [2017] UKSC 17 the Supreme Court said adult children cannot claim simply because a will seems unfair, that maintenance means provision for the everyday expenses of living, and that the Act is not there to reward good conduct, and it restored an award of £50,000 to a daughter who had been estranged from her mother for 26 years. Brothers and sisters are not named in section 1, so a sibling would usually need to show the person who died was maintaining them.
What is the time limit to contest a will?
An Inheritance Act claim must be made within six months of the date the grant of representation is first taken out, under section 4 of the 1975 Act, unless the court gives permission to apply later, and it can be made before a grant exists. Rectification under section 20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 has the same six-month limit, which the court can also extend.
A challenge to validity has no formal statutory deadline, although that does not make delay safe. In James v Scudamore [2023] EWHC 996 (Ch) the High Court barred a claimant who had taken advice years earlier and then done nothing, because in the meantime the estate had been distributed and evidence lost, so doubts are best raised before the grant.
How do you stop probate while a will is contested?
You stop a grant being issued by entering a caveat, which according to GOV.UK's guidance on stopping a probate application lasts six months and can be extended for another six. It costs £4 to enter one, either online or by post using form PA8A, and a further £4 to extend it, which you can only do in the last month before it expires. Our guide to checking whether probate has been granted covers caveats alongside standing searches.
If the person applying for probate disagrees, they can issue a formal warning, and you then have 14 days, counting weekends and bank holidays, to enter an appearance or issue a summons. If you do not respond, the applicant can apply to remove the caveat, whereas if a registrar accepts your appearance it becomes permanent and only a court order can remove it. GOV.UK warns that entering a caveat can lead to legal action and legal costs, so it suits genuine disputes rather than buying time.
How do you contest a will in the UK?
The first step is advice from a solicitor who specialises in contested wills, because each route needs different evidence. For a validity challenge, the solicitor who drew up the will can be asked how it was prepared and signed, as the Law Society's practice note on disputed wills recognises, and medical records can show whether concerns about capacity have substance.
There is no specific pre-action protocol for these disputes, so the general Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct applies. It expects both sides to exchange enough information to understand each other's position and try to settle, and warns that refusing to take part in mediation or similar might be treated as unreasonable and reflected in costs. A settlement can be recorded by the beneficiaries changing what they receive, and our guide to deeds of variation explains how that works within two years of the death.
How much does it cost to contest a will, and who pays?
There is no reliable published figure, because the bill depends on the evidence needed and how early the case settles. The Solicitors Regulation Authority's price transparency rules require firms to publish prices for uncontested probate but not for disputes, so ask for a written estimate at the outset.
Under rule 44.2 of the Civil Procedure Rules the general rule is that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party's costs, although the court has a wide discretion and looks at conduct, including any unreasonable refusal to try mediation. Probate claims keep two long-standing exceptions: where the person who died or a beneficiary caused the litigation, costs may come out of the estate, and where the circumstances reasonably called for an investigation, the court may make no order as to costs. Under rule 57.7, a defendant who only asks for the will to be formally proved and cross-examines the witnesses is also protected from paying costs unless there was no reasonable ground for opposing the will.
Funding options are limited, and the SRA explains that some lawyers offer conditional fee agreements, where they are paid only if the case succeeds and can then charge a success fee, and that after-the-event insurance premiums cannot be recovered from the other side. Will disputes are not among the case types GOV.UK lists for civil legal aid, whilst Citizens Advice suggests checking your home, car and other insurance policies for legal expenses cover.
What should an executor do when a will is challenged?
An executor should normally stay neutral and hold off distributing the estate. In Richefond v Dillon [2023] EWHC 2796 (Ch) the High Court accepted that executors should remain neutral where validity is contested, and held that executors who pursued the claim without the court's prior approval could not recover their costs from the estate. Section 20 of the 1975 Act protects an executor who distributes more than six months after the grant from personal liability for not allowing for a late claim, which is a good reason to wait until then, although distributed property can still be recovered.
Executors who also inherit must keep the two roles apart, and our guide to what an executor does explains the personal liability that can follow. Where the complaint is about how the estate is being run, a beneficiary can ask the High Court under section 50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 to appoint a substitute executor or remove one of several.
How does contesting a will work in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The 1975 Act does not apply in Scotland, where spouses, civil partners and children instead have legal rights to a fixed share of the moveable estate whatever the will says. According to the Scottish Parliament's 2025 briefing on inheritance law, a spouse or civil partner is entitled to one third if there are children and one half if not, whilst children share one third if a spouse or civil partner survives and one half if not, but someone left a legacy must choose between it and their legal rights, and legal rights do not reach land or buildings, including the family home. A cohabitant's claim applies only where there is no will and must be made within six months of the death, since the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 change to twelve months is not yet in force.
Northern Ireland has its own equivalent of the 1975 Act, the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) (Northern Ireland) Order 1979, which covers a similar list of applicants where the person died domiciled there and has the same six-month limit from the grant.
What to do next if you are thinking of contesting a will
Get a copy of the will, and if it cannot be found, our guide to finding a will when the original is missing explains where to look.
Work out which route applies to you.
Note the date of any grant, since the six-month clock for most claims runs from it.
Take specialist advice before entering a caveat, and ask for a written costs estimate.
Put your concerns to the executors in writing and be open to mediation.
Whilst a dispute runs, the person's bank, energy, phone and other accounts carry on until each provider is told about the death, so charges can build up and reduce what is eventually shared. Notifying providers distributes nothing, so an executor can do it without taking sides, and Legacy Trail's free notification service can contact those private-sector providers whilst the question of who inherits is settled.
Frequently asked questions
In England and Wales a will can be challenged as invalid if it was not signed and witnessed properly, if the person lacked capacity, if they did not know and approve its contents, if they were coerced, or if it had been revoked. Separately, certain family members and dependants can claim that the will does not make reasonable financial provision for them, even when it is perfectly valid. Disliking the outcome is not, on its own, a ground.
Usually nothing, because brothers and sisters have no automatic right to inherit when there is a valid will and are not one of the named categories under the 1975 Act. A sibling would usually only have a claim if the person who died was making a substantial contribution to their reasonable needs immediately before the death, for example by paying towards their living costs. If the sibling believes the will itself is invalid, that is a separate challenge with different evidence.
Take specialist advice early, act within any deadline and put your concerns to the executors in writing before going near court. The courts expect both sides to exchange information and consider mediation, and a party who refuses can be penalised in costs even if they win. A negotiated settlement can be recorded in a deed of variation, which avoids the cost and delay of a trial.
No meaningful percentage can be given, because each case turns on its own evidence, such as the will file, medical records and the witnesses' accounts. Validity challenges depend on proving something went wrong when the will was made, whilst Inheritance Act claims depend on the claimant's needs and the size of the estate. A specialist solicitor can give a view on the merits once they have seen the documents.
No. An executor is legally responsible for the estate until everything has been passed on, and has to administer it according to the will and the law rather than their own preferences. If a beneficiary thinks an executor is acting improperly, they can ask the High Court under section 50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 to appoint a substitute or, where there are several executors, remove one of them, although taking advice first is sensible because court applications carry costs.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. If you are dealing with an estate, consider taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in probate. For other guidance specific to your circumstances, speak to a funeral director, Citizens Advice, or a regulated financial adviser.