Contested probate carries a widespread and expensive assumption: the estate pays, so we may as well fight. Costs in contested probate matters are not automatically paid from the estate — ordinary rules can apply, and parties can end up bearing their own or worse. And even where the estate does pay, it pays from the fund everyone is arguing about.
What Contesting Actually Involves
The categories are familiar — claims that proper provision was not made for a child (the section 117 territory under the Succession Act 1965), challenges to a will’s validity on capacity, undue influence or execution grounds, disputes about meaning, conflicts with or between executors — and each carries a real evidential burden: medical records, attendance notes, the solicitor who took instructions, family witnesses giving evidence about a parent’s state of mind and a family’s finances, in public, on the record, permanently. Meanwhile the administration effectively freezes: assets sit, property goes unsold, and beneficiaries who all needed the money wait years. And the family dynamic that produced the dispute hardens with every affidavit. Against that, one prepared day in a private room is not a compromise; it is usually the commercially and humanly rational option.
What a Room Can Allocate
More than a court, and often the things that matter most. A redistribution the parties agree, without anyone being found at fault or a parent’s capacity being publicly litigated. Specific items allocated by preference rather than value — the contents, the photographs, the ring, the piece of land with the view — which are frequently the real dispute hiding behind the legal one. A house transferred to one beneficiary with payments to others over time, rather than a forced sale that suits nobody. An executor replaced or their charges resolved. An agreed valuation basis, an administration timetable with reporting obligations, releases, confidentiality, and provision for later discoveries. And the thing no judgment contains: an acknowledgment — that one sibling did the caring, that a promise was made, that the arrangement was unfair even if it was lawful. A great many estate disputes settle once that has been said and heard, because they were never really about the money. The settlement binds as a contract; where the distribution departs from the will’s terms the implementing documents (deeds of family arrangement and the rest) are drafted alongside; and the tax consequences go to your accountant before signature, never after. The full page is here.
Worth knowing: claims of this kind carry strict time limits, and the limits for some estate claims are short. Whatever route is chosen, the dates get checked first — and if a deadline is close, protect the position and mediate afterwards.
An estate being eaten by its own dispute? 01 5827148 — conflicts check first.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & Mediator
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), holder of the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation and a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Mediations are conducted at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay, at the firm’s Kilkenny office, at neutral venues, at the parties’ own premises — or fully online. Fees are agreed in writing with all parties before any mediation begins. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. The content of this website is general information about mediation and Irish law. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every dispute turns on its own facts, and advice on yours requires a consultation.
The mediator is not your legal adviser. Where Mary Molloy Solicitors is appointed as mediator, the mediator is neutral: the mediator acts for no party, advises no party, and does not decide the dispute. All parties are encouraged to take independent legal advice, and in particular to take advice before signing any mediation settlement. The firm does not act as mediator in any dispute in which it acts, or has acted, for a party — conflicts are checked before any appointment is accepted. Where the firm is instructed as solicitor for one party in a mediation, it acts for that party alone and does not act as mediator in that dispute.
Fees. Fees for mediation are agreed in writing with all parties before the mediation begins, and fees for legal services are agreed in writing with the client at the outset. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Where a dispute or its resolution has tax consequences — succession, business transfers, property, compensation payments — those questions belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance, and are best addressed before any settlement is signed.