A will has been admitted to probate. Family members are still processing the loss. Then something surfaces: a signature that looks wrong, a last-minute change that cuts out the closest relatives, or a caregiver who somehow ended up with the house. California law gives you a narrow window to challenge that will, and the clock starts the moment the court accepts it.
At Barr & Douds Attorneys, our Danville will contest specialists handle these cases throughout Contra Costa County and the greater Bay Area. This guide covers the process, the deadline, who can file, the recognized grounds, and what remains possible if the estate has already closed.
The Will Contest Process, Prep to Court Ruling
A will contest is a court proceeding filed in the same Superior Court where probate was opened. The process follows a defined sequence, and the choices you make in the first weeks often determine the outcome.
Prepare Your Case Before You File
The short list below captures what an experienced Contra Costa probate litigator will ask about in a first meeting. A quick pass through it early keeps the consultation focused and preserves evidence while it is still available.
- Confirm the admission date: Pull the probate case from the Superior Court and note the exact date the will was admitted. Every deadline runs from that date.
- Gather medical records: Records from approximately the six to twelve months surrounding execution of the will are the most useful for a capacity or undue-influence claim.
- Identify the witnesses: The two subscribing witnesses and the notary can confirm or undermine proper execution.
- Preserve the drafting attorney’s file: A subpoena or preservation letter should be sent promptly, since drafting notes often determine the outcome in capacity cases.
- Map the relationships: Who had daily access to the testator in the last year? Who arranged the appointment with the drafting attorney? Isolation is one of the strongest markers of undue influence.
- Track down any earlier will or trust: A prior instrument shapes both standing and the remedy if the current will is revoked.
Bring what you have to the consultation. A litigator can work with incomplete facts far better than with none, and early triage often decides whether a case is worth building.
The Court Process After You File
- Petition filed: Written grounds for revocation are filed in the same Superior Court that opened probate. The petition names the personal representative and all known heirs and devisees.
- Summons issued: Under Probate Code § 8271, the court issues a summons directed to those named parties.
- 30-day response window: Named parties have 30 days from service to file a written response. A party who misses that window can no longer participate in the contest, though inheritance rights are not automatically forfeited.
- Discovery: Both sides exchange documents and take depositions. Common witnesses include the drafting attorney, the notary, and the testator’s treating physicians.
- Settlement or trial: Most contested cases settle. Cases that reach trial are decided by a Probate Court judge, not a jury.
- Timeline: Cases resolved through mediation typically wrap in six to twelve months, while contested matters with full discovery and trial routinely run two to three years (these are approximations and every case is different).
- Court ruling: If the court is satisfied the will should be denied probate, Probate Code § 8272 requires the court to revoke the earlier admission.
When to File a Will Contest: The 120-Day California Deadline
California Probate Code § 8270 gives any interested person 120 days to petition the court to revoke probate. The 120 days run from the date the will is admitted, not from the date the estate closes or the date you learned about the will’s contents. That admission date is usually the day of the initial probate hearing in the Superior Court.
Two hard rules follow from this statute:
- Prior notice of another contest closes the door: A party who had actual notice of a will contest brought by someone else in time to join it and did not lose the right to bring a separate contest later.
- The 120-day period is jurisdictional in most cases: Late-filed petitions are dismissed, even meritorious ones.
The statute carves out one exception. A person who was a minor, or who was incompetent with no guardian or conservator when the will was admitted, may petition to revoke probate at any time before the court enters its order for final distribution.
You can also raise a challenge before the will is admitted to probate. A written objection filed at the initial probate hearing is often the stronger procedural position, since a successful pre-admission objection can pause probate entirely before any assets are distributed.
Who Can Contest a Will in California
Only an “interested person” as defined in Probate Code § 48 can bring a will contest. The statute covers heirs, devisees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries, and any other party with a property right in, or a claim against, the estate that could be affected by the outcome.
A blood relationship does not create standing on its own. Your financial position has to be measurably different if the challenge succeeds. Two common examples:
- Disinherited adult children: Standing follows because intestacy rules or a prior will would restore an inheritance.
- Named beneficiaries receiving a smaller share: Standing follows because voiding the current will could enlarge that share.
The court decides standing on a case-by-case basis. Under § 48(b), the same person may qualify as an interested party for one proceeding and not another.
Bring the Facts. We'll Explain Your Options.
Legal Grounds to Contest a Will in California
California courts presume a probated will is valid. The party filing the contest carries the burden of proof. Six grounds are recognized:
- Lack of testamentary capacity: Probate Code § 6100.5 invalidates a will if the testator could not appreciate the nature of the act, recall the nature of their property, or remember their relationships with living relatives at the time of signing. Dementia, delirium, and severe cognitive impairment are common factual patterns, though proving capacity cuts both ways in practice.
- Undue influence: A person in a position of trust used pressure, isolation, or dependency to override the testator’s free will. Caregivers, new spouses, and adult children with sole access to a vulnerable testator are the most common actors.
- Fraud: The testator was misled about what they were signing, or false information caused them to change the terms.
- Forgery: The signature, the document, or a key provision was not actually created by the testator.
- Improper execution: Probate Code § 6110 requires a written will signed by the testator and witnessed by at least two people who were present at the same time and who understood the document was a will. Section 6110(c)(2) creates a harmless-error safety valve, so a defectively executed will can still be admitted on clear and convincing evidence of the testator’s intent.
- Later valid will or revocation: A more recent will can supersede an earlier one, and a testator who destroyed or otherwise revoked the will before death makes the submitted version void.
What Happens If Your Will Contest Succeeds
Success in a will contest is not the finish line. It is the point at which the court must determine where the estate goes next. What follows depends on the paper trail:
- A valid earlier will exists: The prior instrument can be offered for probate. A new petition is filed, and administration continues under those terms.
- No earlier will is available: The estate passes by intestate succession under California Probate Code § 6400 and the sections that follow. The statute sets defined shares for a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, children, parents, and more distant relatives, based on the family structure at death and whether property is community or separate.
- Assets already distributed: A revoked will does not always mean the money comes back easily. Beneficiaries who received property under the invalid will can be ordered to return it, but tracing funds that have moved through third parties, been spent, or been mixed with other accounts is its own litigation.
A successful contest is not always a full financial win. Fees in contested probate cases can run into six figures, and unwinding a completed distribution takes time. The real value of a contest is measured in what actually reaches your hands after those costs, which is why an early conversation about the numbers matters as much as the legal grounds.
What to Do If Probate Has Already Closed
Once the court enters an order for final distribution and 120 days have passed, a standard § 8270 petition is no longer available. A handful of narrower remedies may still apply:
- Independent civil action for fraud on the court: California courts have allowed suits after probate closes where the original proceeding was corrupted by forgery, a concealed later will, or deception that changed the outcome. These claims are fact-heavy and require strong evidence.
- Motion under Code of Civil Procedure § 473: A party who did not receive proper notice of the probate hearing may seek relief from the order based on mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. The motion has its own time limits, so it should be filed as soon as the omission is discovered.
- Petition to reopen the estate: New assets discovered after closure, or a material procedural error, can support a reopening order. A reopened estate does not automatically permit a will contest, but it can create room to raise related issues.
These paths are hard to win. Courts protect the finality of probate for good reason. But they exist, and they have worked in California cases where the underlying facts were serious enough.
No-Contest Clauses in California Wills
Many California wills include a no-contest clause disinheriting anyone who challenges the document. That language sounds absolute. It is not.
Under Probate Code § 21311, a no-contest clause is enforced against a direct contest only when the challenger brought the case without probable cause. Probable cause exists when the facts known at the time of filing would lead a reasonable person to believe the requested relief has a reasonable likelihood of being granted after further investigation.
A losing contestant with a genuine, evidence-based claim generally keeps their inheritance. A contestant with no factual basis and no diligence risks the clause being enforced. If you were disinherited entirely, a no-contest clause has nothing to enforce against you. There is no gift at risk.
Move Before the Evidence Vanishes
A will contest lives or dies on facts secured in the first weeks after admission. Medical records demonstrating competency become harder to gather, memories fade, and the drafting attorney’s file disappears into the archive.
Barr & Douds Attorneys has handled trust and estate litigation across Danville, Walnut Creek, San Francisco, and the greater Bay Area for more than two decades, with a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law on the team. Call (925) 314-9999 or contact us for a free case evaluation, and bring whatever documents you already have.
