# Wills and lawsuits

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 22, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333 "2021-08-22T23:34:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Honolulu\_Lulu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/87869e/32.png) [@Honolulu\_Lulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honolulu_Lulu)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333/21 "2021-08-26T11:12:05Z")

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Leaving a person $1 will not deter them from claiming that the donors were not of sound mind. However, donors should leave them a moderate amount (say 5%) and add the condition that anyone who contests this will in court and loses will receive nothing.

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**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333/22 "2021-08-26T11:47:41Z")

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> [@Honolulu\_Lulu](#):
>
> add the condition that anyone who contests this will in court and loses will receive nothing.

Is that legal?  
Conditioning an inheritance on behavior of the recipient after the fact?

(I ain’t no lawyer, obviously. Just curious)

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**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333/23 "2021-08-26T13:32:25Z")

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That makes sense then - I just looked up the intestate succession laws for a few states, and in all them, in the absence of a spouse or children, parents have a higher claim to an estate than siblings do.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333/24 "2021-08-26T17:18:54Z")

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The wastrel clearly cannot hire a lawyer so he must be working on contingency. But he wouldn’t do that unless he feels there is a plausible case he can make, would he?

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**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wills-and-lawsuits/949333/25 "2021-08-26T19:05:49Z")

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The presumption is the wastrel’s attorney is working on contingency. So far, their attorney is out only the cost of a couple of letters, and if the family members had settled, said attorney would have made a tidy profit for a few hours of work. The theory is once the family members indicated they would not settle, the attorney lost interest. But it’s just a theory, and it would be useful to find a way to bring this to a conclusion rather than having a suit hanging over people’s heads.

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