By the Templateez Team · Licensed Attorney · June 2026

Probate Litigation Intake Forms: What Every Probate Attorney Needs to Capture at Client Intake

Probate litigation is unlike most areas of civil practice. The deadlines are jurisdictionally rigid, the evidence is often locked inside medical records and financial institutions, the parties are family members with decades of grievance layered beneath the legal dispute, and the decedent — the one person who could resolve the central question — is not available to testify. Every piece of information you fail to capture at the initial consultation becomes a fact you have to chase down later, often under deadline pressure and almost always at greater cost to the client.

A general civil litigation intake form will not work here. Probate disputes require specific data points that general forms do not contemplate — the decedent's domicile at death, the existence and dates of prior wills, the timeline of cognitive decline relative to document execution, and the identity of every person who stood to gain or lose from the contested instrument. A purpose-built probate litigation intake form captures all of this in a structured format that drives your case evaluation from the first meeting.

Matter type: classifying the dispute before you go deeper

Probate litigation is a broad category that encompasses fundamentally different types of disputes, each with its own elements, burden of proof, and procedural posture. Your intake form should classify the matter type at the outset because every subsequent section — what evidence matters, what deadlines apply, who the interested parties are — depends on it.

The major matter types your form should cover:

• Will contest — challenging the validity of a will on grounds of undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity, fraud, forgery, or improper execution. This is the most common probate dispute, and each ground requires different evidence. Undue influence cases turn on the relationship between the decedent and the alleged influencer. Capacity cases turn on medical records. Execution defects turn on witness testimony and notary compliance.
• Trust contest — the same grounds applied to a trust instrument rather than a will. Procedurally different because trusts generally do not pass through probate court, and the filing deadlines and notice requirements may differ from will contests.
• Estate administration dispute — executor or administrator misconduct. The personal representative is mismanaging assets, failing to distribute, self-dealing, or refusing to account. These cases are about fiduciary duty, not document validity.
• Accounting objections — a beneficiary challenging the fiduciary's formal or informal accounting. The numbers do not add up, expenses are unexplained, or assets are missing from the accounting that should be there.
• Removal of fiduciary — petition to remove an executor, trustee, guardian, or conservator for cause. Grounds typically include breach of duty, conflict of interest, incapacity, or failure to act.
• Breach of fiduciary duty — a standalone claim against a fiduciary for damages caused by mismanagement, self-dealing, or failure to act prudently.
• Elective share or forced heirship claim — a surviving spouse exercising their statutory right to a share of the estate regardless of what the will provides. The percentage and calculation method vary significantly by state.
• Omitted spouse or child claim — a spouse or child born or adopted after the will was executed who was not provided for and argues they are entitled to an intestate share.
• Creditor claim against estate — a creditor asserting a debt against the estate, often subject to strict notice and filing deadlines.
• Guardianship or conservatorship dispute — contested appointment, removal, or scope of authority over an incapacitated person or their property.

Many probate matters involve more than one of these categories simultaneously — a will contest paired with a petition to remove the executor, for example, or accounting objections that evolve into a breach of fiduciary duty claim. Your form should allow the attorney to check multiple types and add notes on how they intersect.

Decedent and grantor information

In probate litigation, the decedent is the central figure even though they are not a party to the case. The information you capture about them drives every aspect of the dispute — which state's law governs, who the potential parties are, what documents exist, and what the estate looks like.

• Full legal name — including any aliases, maiden names, or name variations used on estate planning documents, deeds, or financial accounts. Inconsistencies in how the decedent's name appears across documents can become a substantive issue.
• Date of death and age at death — the date of death triggers every statutory deadline in probate. Age at death is relevant to capacity arguments and life expectancy calculations.
• Domicile at death — this determines which state's probate law governs. Domicile is not the same as residence — a person with homes in two states may have legal domicile in only one, and the determination can itself become a litigated issue when the two states have different substantive rules on things like elective share or no-contest clause enforceability.
• Marital status at death — married, single, divorced, or widowed. If divorced, the date and state of the divorce. If widowed, the date the prior spouse died. Prior marriages create potential claims from ex-spouses, stepchildren, and children from earlier relationships.
• Children — names, ages, whether any predeceased the decedent, and whether any were adopted or born outside of marriage. Predeceased children may have issue who take by representation. Adopted children generally have the same rights as biological children, but the analysis can vary by state and by whether the adoption was formal.
• Estate planning documents — every will, trust, power of attorney, and healthcare directive the decedent executed, with dates and version numbers. Amendments and codicils should be listed separately with their dates. Prior wills are critical — in a will contest, the prior will is often what the contestant wants the court to enforce instead.
• Attorney who drafted documents — name and firm. The drafting attorney is frequently a key witness to capacity and execution formalities, and their file may contain notes on the decedent's state of mind, the circumstances of the signing, and whether anyone else was present or attempted to influence the process.

Client's relationship to the decedent

Your client's standing to bring or defend a probate action depends entirely on their relationship to the decedent and their interest in the estate. This section of the intake determines whether the client has a viable claim before you invest hours in case evaluation.

• Relationship — spouse, child, grandchild, sibling, other relative, non-relative beneficiary, or creditor. The relationship determines standing in most jurisdictions and also shapes the narrative of the case.
• Named in current will or trust — yes, no, or named in a prior version but removed. A client who was named in an earlier will but removed from the current one has a very different case posture than a client who was never named at all. The removal — and its timing relative to alleged undue influence or capacity decline — is often the core of the dispute.
• Fiduciary role — is the client serving or named as executor, trustee, guardian, or none of these? A client who is both a beneficiary and a named executor has a dual role that affects their litigation strategy.
• Expected inheritance — what the client believes they should receive, whether based on a prior will, oral promises, family understanding, or intestacy. This is the client's subjective expectation — it may or may not have legal support, but understanding it is essential to advising them on the strength of their position.
• Actual distribution — what the current documents provide for the client. The gap between expected and actual distribution is what motivates the dispute and defines the relief the client is seeking.

Interested parties and family dynamics

Probate matters revolve around the family and the estate — the interpersonal dynamics matter as much as the legal issues. Understanding who the interested parties are, who has aligned with whom, and what the history of conflict looks like is essential to case strategy — and to advising the client on whether litigation, mediation, or settlement is the right path. While the probate intake form focuses on capturing the key parties involved in estate administration, practitioners handling contested matters should maintain a detailed party map in their case file.

• Personal representative, executor, or trustee — name, contact information, and whether they have retained counsel. If they have counsel, the attorney's name and firm. The fiduciary is either your client or the person your client is in conflict with — either way, you need their identity immediately.
• Other beneficiaries and heirs — names, relationships to the decedent, and what they receive under the current documents. Every beneficiary is an interested party whose position affects the estate administration.
• Parties aligned with client vs. adverse — in a multi-beneficiary estate, some siblings may support the contest while others defend the will. Knowing who is on which side shapes everything from cost-sharing on litigation expenses to the viability of a majority-supported settlement. Track these alignments in your case notes alongside the intake.
• Prior litigation between parties — have any of these family members sued each other before? Prior lawsuits, restraining orders, or family court proceedings provide context for the current dispute and may contain relevant admissions or findings.
• Family dynamics — alliances, longstanding conflicts, estrangements, caregiving history, financial dependencies. A child who spent ten years as the decedent's primary caregiver has a different narrative than a child who was estranged for two decades. These facts do not appear in legal documents, but they drive settlement leverage and case strategy.

Grounds for challenge: building the theory of the case at intake

If the matter involves a will or trust contest, the intake form needs to capture the factual basis for each potential ground of challenge. This is where the attorney begins to evaluate the strength of the case, and the more detail the form elicits, the more efficient that evaluation becomes.

• Undue influence — who exerted the influence? What was their relationship to the decedent? Was there a confidential or fiduciary relationship? Was the decedent physically or emotionally dependent on the alleged influencer? Was the decedent isolated from other family members? Was the document change made in secrecy? Was it a sudden or dramatic departure from prior estate plans?
• Lack of testamentary capacity — what is the evidence of cognitive decline? Diagnosed dementia, Alzheimer's disease, or other cognitive impairment? Medical records from the period surrounding document execution? Were there lucid intervals? The critical question is the decedent's capacity on the specific date the document was signed — not their general condition over a period of years.
• Fraud — was the decedent misled about the contents of the document or the identity of what they were signing? Fraud in the execution (the decedent did not know it was a will) versus fraud in the inducement (the decedent was told false information that caused them to change their estate plan).
• Forgery — is the signature on the document disputed? Will handwriting analysis be needed? Are there exemplar signatures available for comparison?
• Improper execution — were the state-specific execution formalities satisfied? Were the required number of witnesses present? Did the witnesses actually observe the signing? Was the document notarized if required? Execution requirements vary by state, and a defect that would invalidate a will in one jurisdiction may be harmless in another.
• Revocation — was a later will destroyed, hidden, or suppressed? If the decedent executed a subsequent will that revoked the contested instrument, the question of what happened to that later document becomes critical.
• No-contest clause — does the will or trust contain an in terrorem provision? If so, does the client risk forfeiting their inheritance by filing a challenge? The enforceability of no-contest clauses varies dramatically by state — some enforce them strictly, some only if the challenge is brought without probable cause, and some refuse to enforce them entirely.

The overlap between probate litigation and estate planning intake is significant but the direction is reversed — estate planning captures the client's wishes going forward, while probate litigation reconstructs what happened and whether the resulting documents reflect the decedent's actual intent. Elder law intake shares the capacity and guardianship dimensions, particularly when the dispute involves a living incapacitated person rather than a decedent.

Estate assets: what is at stake

The composition and value of the estate determines whether the litigation is economically justified, what discovery will look like, and where the disputes over distribution will center. Your intake should capture a comprehensive asset inventory:

• Real property — addresses, estimated values, how title is held. Property held in joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety may pass outside probate entirely, which affects what is actually in the estate versus what appears to be.
• Bank and investment accounts — institutions, approximate values, and whether they have payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations. POD and TOD accounts pass outside the will, and disputes over whether those designations were properly established or were the product of undue influence are a category of probate litigation unto themselves.
• Business interests — entity name, percentage ownership, estimated value. Closely held businesses are among the most complex and contentious probate assets because valuation is inherently subjective and control of the business may have passed to one heir during the decedent's lifetime.
• Life insurance — carrier, policy value, and named beneficiaries. Life insurance proceeds generally pass outside probate, but beneficiary designation disputes are common — particularly when a designation was changed late in life or conflicts with the decedent's will.
• Personal property of significant value — art, jewelry, vehicles, collectibles, digital assets. These items generate disproportionate disputes relative to their value because they carry sentimental significance that dollars cannot replace.
• Total estimated estate value — this drives the economic analysis of whether litigation makes sense. A will contest over a $150,000 estate with four beneficiaries has a very different cost-benefit profile than a contest over a $5 million estate.

Evidence and timeline: the facts that will make or break the case

Probate cases are won or lost on the evidentiary record, and much of that evidence is time-sensitive. Medical records can be destroyed after retention periods expire. Bank statements may be purged. Witnesses' memories fade. Your intake form should identify what evidence exists and initiate preservation immediately.

• Medical records — cognitive evaluations, treating physician notes, capacity assessments, neuropsychological testing, hospital admission and discharge records from the period surrounding document execution. In a capacity case, the medical record is the single most important category of evidence.
• Financial records — bank statements showing unusual transactions, large gifts, transfers to the alleged influencer, changes in beneficiary designations, new accounts opened in joint names. A pattern of financial exploitation in the months before a will change is powerful circumstantial evidence of undue influence.
• Communications — letters, emails, text messages between the decedent and family members, between the decedent and the alleged influencer, and between family members discussing the decedent's condition or intentions. These are increasingly found on phones and in email accounts that may be controlled by an adverse party or the estate's fiduciary.
• Key individuals — who was present at the signing ceremony? Who observed the decedent's condition or the alleged influencer's behavior? Who can speak to the decedent's stated intentions? Identifying these individuals at intake is critical because they may be reluctant to get involved, and early contact preserves both their cooperation and their recollection. While the probate intake form captures the core parties and their relationships, practitioners should maintain a separate contact list for potential fact and expert witnesses in their case file.
• Timeline of key events — when was the contested document executed? When did cognitive decline begin according to medical records? When did the alleged influencer enter or increase their role in the decedent's life? When was the prior will executed? The relationship between these dates is the structural foundation of the case theory.
• Prior attorney communications — if the client was named in a prior will but removed, what did the drafting attorney know about the circumstances of the change? Did the attorney meet with the decedent alone or was the alleged influencer present? Did the attorney express any concerns about capacity or influence?

Procedural status and deadlines

Probate deadlines are often shorter and less forgiving than general civil litigation deadlines. Missing an objection deadline can waive the client's right to challenge a will entirely — no extension, no excuse. Your intake form must capture the procedural posture immediately so you can calendar the critical dates before the consultation ends.

• Probate court — name and county. Probate jurisdiction is typically where the decedent was domiciled, but ancillary proceedings may be needed in states where real property is located.
• Case number — if a petition has already been filed. If not, whether the client is the one who needs to file or whether they are responding to someone else's filing.
• Will admitted to probate — date of admission. This date starts the clock on objection deadlines in most jurisdictions.
• Objection deadline — this is the most critical deadline in probate litigation. Depending on the jurisdiction, it may be as short as 30 days or as long as 120 days from the date the will was admitted or from the date notice was received. In some states, the deadline runs from publication rather than personal service. Missing this deadline is malpractice.
• Discovery stage — has discovery commenced? What has been requested or produced? Are there pending motions to compel?
• Mediation — has mediation been ordered or is it available? Many probate courts require mediation before trial, and in family disputes, mediation often produces better outcomes than litigation — if the parties are willing to engage in good faith.
• Trial date — if one has been set. Probate trials can be bench trials or jury trials depending on the jurisdiction and the issue being tried.

Why a generic litigation intake form fails in probate

A general civil litigation intake form will capture the client's contact information, a description of the dispute, and the basic procedural posture. It will not ask about the decedent's domicile, the existence of prior wills, the timeline of cognitive decline, or whether the contested document contains a no-contest clause. It will not prompt the attorney to calculate the objection deadline or identify assets that passed outside probate. It will not capture the family dynamics that determine whether the case settles in three months or goes to trial in three years.

Probate litigation requires a form built for probate litigation — one that walks the attorney through every category of information that drives case evaluation, evidence preservation, and strategic planning from the very first meeting.

If you handle estate disputes alongside estate planning or elder law, each practice area has its own intake requirements, and the Legal Bundle includes all three alongside 35 other legal practice areas.