probate problem

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I had a friend who recently passed away in Amarillo, leaving a 10 million dollar estate.
He had two children; Jack, aged 44, and a daughter aged 46. Sometime in the last 3 or 4
years of his life, he changed his will; leaving 100% of his estate to the daughter, and zero
to the son. The reason he gave ME was that Jack was "irresponsible" and he wanted to
teach him to make it on his own.

Problem is; the irresponsibility was CAUSED by the father. When Jack was a child, his father
put him in a school for troubled children, where he was beaten up by the other students on a daily basis. When he would come home & complain, his father would simply say "It'll make
a MAN out of you". To this day, Jack has severe anger issues, which hamper his ability to
successfully cope with life.

His mother died when he was 10 months old. At age 8; Jack's father spent time in the
state pen, so Jack was raised by relatives and really had no chance at a normal childhood.

Question is; is there enough here to contest this will? And could this be handled by ANY
Texas attorney?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Jack's father may have been a first-class a*****e but he still had the right to give his money away as he saw fit. I'm sure Jack would like the same right when it comes time to probate his own will.

Would Jack have access to the older will?

Is there any language in the will giving a specific reason as to WHY Jack is being disinherited? If not, he may have slight legal grounds to contest and then hope that sister will cave in and offer him a settlement NOT to contest since it would be costly on both sides in legal fees.

He needs to have an attorney who is experienced in contesting wills to look at this specific will. The only down side is that Jack doesn't have enough money to be able to afford to pay the expensive legal fees it will cost to contest and therefore will have a hard time finding an attorney to take his case.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

He should not let just any attorney represent him--the attorney should be able to explain what particular case law is similar to his exact situation (to determine his chances of winning his case) before deciding whether to proceed--not just automatically accept any attorney's promise to defend him along with a large legal bill that he may not be able to afford.