How Creditors Can Challenge Probate Cases

It's not so much that creditors can contest wills. They can file any creditor claim into the open probate that says, "Hey, this person owed me money."

Now, where we get into a sticky situation is where a will may... Let's just use an example that somebody only has a house here. They had one kid, they have a house, they chose to do a will, and so it has to get probated because it's over the limits to do basically a small estate affidavit. And a creditor is owed money. Well, part of the probate process, one of the steps is to pay creditors.

So, that child, if there is an estate asset, and let's say the child tries to just transfer the house straight to them and then say there's no money in the estate, that's where a creditor would come in and say, "Hey, no, there was an asset. You're required to pay the debts out of the estate assets. There was one. So, I'm not so much contesting the will, I'm contesting the administration because I have a valid claim."