California Will Litigation
California will litigation challenges whether a will is valid, or whether it left someone out by accident. The grounds are undue influence, duress, menace, fraud and lack of capacity. A petition to revoke probate of a will must generally be filed within 120 days of admission.
What can be challenged
California law is direct about the effect of pressure on a will. Under Probate Code section 6104, the execution or revocation of a will, or of any part of a will, is ineffective to the extent it was procured by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence. Lack of testamentary capacity is a separate ground, asking whether the person understood the nature of the act, the property involved, and their relationships to those who would ordinarily receive it. Timing then governs everything: a petition to revoke probate of a will must generally be filed within 120 days after the will is admitted to probate. The no contest clause that appears to forbid all of this is narrower than it reads — section 21311 enforces such a clause only against a direct contest brought without probable cause, against a pleading challenging a transfer on the ground the property was not the transferor’s, and against a creditor’s claim, the last two only where the clause expressly says so.
Sources: Probate Code s.6104 - Duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence · Probate Code s.8270 - Petition to revoke probate of will · Probate Code s.21311 - When a no contest clause is enforceable · Verified 2026-08-04.
Which claim you have
- Contesting a willGrounds and the 120-day deadlineRead this
- Undue influenceThe four statutory factorsRead this
- Lack of capacityThe §811 deficit-and-correlation testRead this
- Disinheritance and omitted heirsWhen the law writes you back inRead this
- No contest clausesWhen they actually biteRead this
Will or trust? They run on different clocks
Most substantial California estates are held in a living trust rather than passed by will alone, and many families have both at once. A will challenge turns on admission to probate; a trust contest turns on the trustee’s notice. If you have received a letter and are not sure which you are dealing with, that is ten minutes on the phone rather than a guess — see trust litigation.
Need help with legal fees?
We litigate select cases on contingency, with no upfront fees.
Costs are separate from the fee, and whether you are responsible for them is set out in the written agreement before you sign anything.
How contingency fees work in California
A contingency fee means the attorney is paid from what is recovered rather than by the hour, so a beneficiary who cannot fund litigation out of pocket can still bring a claim. California regulates these agreements closely. Under Business and Professions Code section 6147, the agreement must be in writing and the attorney must give the client a duplicate copy, signed by both, when the contract is made. It must state the agreed contingency rate; how disbursements and costs incurred in prosecuting or settling the claim will affect that fee; and to what extent the client could be required to pay for related matters. Unless the matter falls under section 6146, the agreement must also state that the fee is not set by law and is negotiable. These are not formalities: failure to comply with any provision of section 6147 makes the agreement voidable at the client’s option, leaving the attorney entitled only to a reasonable fee.
Sources: Business and Professions Code s.6147 - Contingency fee contracts · Verified 2026-08-03.
Not every matter suits a contingency arrangement, and the firm does not take every case on one. Whether yours qualifies depends on the facts, the likely recovery, and the assets actually available to satisfy a judgment. Ask when you call.
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