How to Contest a Will in California: Grounds and Deadlines

How to contest a will in California comes down to two windows. Before the court admits the will to probate, you file a written objection (Probate Code § 8250). After the court admits it, you have 120 days to petition to revoke the probate (Probate Code § 8270). Miss both and the will is final, with one narrow exception for extrinsic fraud (Probate Code §§ 8226, 8007).

Here's the thing: the deadline is the easy part. The law presumes the will is valid and puts the burden on you to prove otherwise. Contesting a will in California is won on paper: medical records, the drafting lawyer's file, bank statements, witnesses. A hunch is where the case starts, not where it ends.

The deadline wizard will give you a date.

Who can contest a will in California?

Only an "interested person" can object. That means an heir, a devisee, a child, a spouse, a creditor, a beneficiary, or anyone else whose property interest the case may affect (Probate Code § 48). Two groups have standing in almost every will contest:

• Heirs. The relatives who would inherit if there were no will (Probate Code § 44). The surviving spouse and children come first; parents and then siblings inherit only if there are no children (Probate Code §§ 6401, 6402). A child cut out of a parent's will is an heir and can contest.
• People an earlier will named. If the new will falls, the earlier one matters again. That is exactly the stake Probate Code section 48 protects.

Someone who was never an heir and never named in any document has no standing, however close they were.

What are the grounds to contest a will in California?

A will is not invalid because it is unfair. A parent may leave everything to one child, a neighbor, or a cat rescue; an unfair result by itself proves nothing (Welfare and Institutions Code § 15610.70). The grounds to contest a will in California are about how the will came to exist.

1. Lack of testamentary capacity. The signer had to understand what a will does, know what they owned, and remember their family and the people the will affects (Probate Code § 6100.5). The bar is "exceptionally low" (Doolittle v. Exchange Bank) and the law presumes capacity (Probate Code § 810). A dementia diagnosis alone does not win; what your parent understood at the moment of signing does. See our guide to testamentary capacity in California.
2. Undue influence, fraud, duress, or menace. A will, or any part of one, is ineffective to the extent it was procured by any of those (Probate Code § 6104). Undue influence is the workhorse: excessive persuasion that overcomes free will and produces an unfair result (Welfare and Institutions Code § 15610.70). The California Supreme Court has called it "pressure brought to bear directly on the testamentary act" (Rice v. Clark). Our guide to undue influence in California walks through the proof.
3. Improper execution. A formal will must be in writing, signed by the person making it, and witnessed by two people present at the same time (Probate Code § 6110). A court can excuse a witnessing defect if the proponent proves by clear and convincing evidence that your parent intended it as their will (Probate Code § 6110). A handwritten will needs no witnesses if the signature and material terms are in the person's own hand (Probate Code § 6111).
4. Revocation. A later will revokes an earlier one, expressly or by inconsistency; so does destroying a will with intent to revoke it (Probate Code § 6120). If a newer will is offered against an older one, the court decides the newer will first (Probate Code § 8252).
5. Forgery. The signature is not your parent's. Forgery is first on the Probate Code's list of direct-contest grounds (Probate Code § 21310).

What evidence do you need to contest a will?

At trial, the person offering the will has to prove only that it was properly signed and witnessed. You carry the burden on everything else: capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, revocation (Probate Code § 8252). Undue influence must be shown by clear and convincing evidence (Doolittle v. Exchange Bank). That is the part of how to contest a will in California that people skip, and it is why contests are won on documents rather than suspicion.

Two presumptions flip the burden onto the person who benefited:

• The common-law presumption. Under Rice v. Clark, the burden shifts once you show three things. The beneficiary had a confidential relationship with the person who died, actively took part in procuring the will, and would benefit unduly from it.
• The statutory presumption. A gift to the person who drafted the will, or to a care custodian of a dependent adult, is presumed to be the product of fraud or undue influence (Probate Code § 21380). A care custodian must disprove that by clear and convincing evidence; a drafter cannot rebut it at all (Probate Code § 21380). The escape hatch is a certificate of independent review from an independent lawyer who counseled the person alone (Probate Code § 21384). If a caregiver or one sibling ended up with everything, our guide to what you can do when a sibling or caregiver got everything walks through the options.

Read any certificate closely. The lawyer must be independent: no relationship with the beneficiary, and no trustee or executor role or payout under the document (Probate Code § 21370). The counseling must happen out of the presence of any heir or beneficiary and include a real look for fraud or undue influence (Probate Code § 21384). Skip those steps and the presumption stays.

How do you contest a will in California, step by step?

1. Get the will and the petition. Whoever holds the original must lodge it with the court clerk within 30 days of learning of the death (Probate Code § 8200). Heirs and everyone named in the will get at least 15 days' notice of the hearing (Probate Code § 8110).
2. File a written objection before the hearing. A will contest starts with a written objection that states your grounds (Probate Code §§ 8004, 8250). Do not plan to show up and explain. If the will is admitted with nothing on file, you are into the 120-day window and the harder job of undoing an order.
3. Summons. A summons is served with your objection on the heirs and everyone named in the will, who have 30 days to respond (Probate Code § 8250). Anyone who does not respond is out of the contest but keeps their share (Probate Code § 8251). The named executor has no duty to defend until the court appoints them (Probate Code § 8250).
4. Discovery. Subpoenas for medical records, the drafting lawyer's file, and bank records; depositions of the witnesses and the beneficiary.
5. Settlement. Most contests settle, in the court's program or in private mediation.
6. Trial. A judge, not a jury, decides the contested facts (Probate Code § 8252).

How does a will contest work in Santa Clara County?

Probate petitions for San Jose, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and the rest of Santa Clara County are filed and heard in the probate court in San Jose. Three local rules shape a contest there:

• One judge for everything. New probate cases are assigned at random to an All-Purpose Judge who decides every issue up to trial (Probate Local Rule 1).
• Tentative rulings on motions. Departments that issue them post by 3:00 p.m. the court day before the hearing; to argue, notify the court and the other side by 4:00 p.m. that day (Probate Local Rule 2).
• The settlement program. Parties who stipulate on form PB-4063 get a settlement conference with a neutral from the court's list; the rule says it is not a mediation and has no confidentiality provision (Probate Local Rule 3).

Our guide to trust and estate litigation in Santa Clara County has more on how the local court runs.

What if your parent's estate is in a trust, not a will?

In Silicon Valley, a house in Sunnyvale or Cupertino is usually held in a living trust. The will is then a "pour-over" will, a short document that sends anything left outside the trust into it (Probate Code § 6300). If your parent's plan worked that way, the fight is over the trust, and the rules change.

The trustee mails a notice, and you have 120 days from the mailing to file a petition contesting the trust (Probate Code § 16061.8). A trust contest filed late can trigger the no-contest clause and cost the entire inheritance (Meiri v. Shamtoubi). Our guide to contesting a trust in California covers that process.

What are the deadlines to contest a will in California?

A minor, or an adult who was incompetent with no guardian or conservator, when the will was admitted can petition any time before final distribution (Probate Code § 8270). Our deadlines guide has the other clocks.