Rule 193. Will contests

Any person claiming any interest in an estate may, at any time before final order of distribution, file a pleading designated "Declaration of Contest," wherein he shall set forth his interest in the estate and the nature and basis of his objection to the document or documents offered as the will of the testator. Before the contest is filed, a copy of it shall be served on the proponent of the will and acknowledgment of this service shall appear at the end of the declaration when it is filed. The proponent of the will shall answer the declaration in the same manner and within the same time as a complaint in a civil action must be answered. There shall appear at the end of the declaration and upon the copy served on the proponent of the will, a notice to the proponent signed by the person filing the declaration directing the proponent's attention to the time within which answer is required. The contest shall be placed on the calendar and shall come on for hearing in the same manner as a civil action.--Added Dec. 17, 1976.

Construction

This rule was not intended to expand the substantive rights of the parties. Caron v. First Pennsylvania Bank, N.A., Terr. Ct. St. T. and St. J. 1979, 16 V.I. 169.