Who has rights to real property?

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Who has rights to real property?

We have a will in hand, signed,
witnessed, and notarized in 2016.

The terms of the will leave everything
to three named grandchildren. When
filing the will today at probate, the
grandchildren named in the will were
told that a 2014 law made this invalid,
and that assets must be split between
all 6 grandchildren.

If this is true, what is the purpose of
a will?

Thanks,

Jon

Asked on November 5, 2018 under Estate Planning, South Carolina

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

WHY does someone claim that the will is invalid? Generally, wills are valid in your state (and all states) and there is no law requiring someone to leave assets to all his grandchildre (or to any of them; a testator, or person making a will, may disinherit all grandchildren). 
Generally, there grounds to invalidate a will in your state (or again, most states) are
1) It was not signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses, each of whom then also signed in each other's presence.
2) The testator can be shown to have been not mentally competent when he made the will (e.g. dementia, Alzheimer's, mental illness).
3) It can be shown that someone threatened, coereced, or tricked the testator into signing. 
Other than the above, wills are generally valid and enforced, so it is not clear why someone would have told you what they did.
 


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