Can I defend a contested will on a no win, no fee basis?

• don’t have the money to pay legal fees;
• would prefer not to use their own money to pay legal costs upfront; or
• simply don’t want to take the financial risk of losing a legal battle.

When we defend a contested will on a no win, no fee basis we must establish at the outset what a ‘win’ would be. Where the claim fails absolutely then it will be very clear that the defendant was ‘won’. However, many contested will claims are concluded by way of a compromised, out of court settlement. Such a settlement might involve the claimant walking away with a much lower payment than they would have received if the contested will claim had not been defended. Depending on the outcome, this too might reasonably be regarded as a ‘success’ for the defendant, and therefore meet the definition of a ‘win’.

Every case is different of course, so if you are interested in defending a contested will claim on a no win, no fee basis then we will be happy to talk things through with you and identify what a ‘win’ would be in your own particular case.

If the definition of a ‘win’ is met then you will be responsible for paying the legal fees, together with a success fee. These fees can normally be met from the funds in the estate that become available for distribution to you as a beneficiary under the will following resolution of the dispute. If however the defence is not ‘successful’, then you will not have to pay us for the work we have carried out in defending the claim.

We offer this no win, no fee service in a range of cases, including defending undue influence claims, and you can read here about a challenge we successfully defended.