Probate Solicitor Dublin
Will disputes, section 117 claims, executor problems and stuck estates — the Dublin probate practice for estate litigation nationwide.
Richard O’Shea, Solicitor, TEP (Trust & Estate Practitioner) — Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981.
How We Help
Three kinds of caller, one practice: the person left out or under-provided, the beneficiary stuck behind an executor, and the family watching an estate freeze. The will is not always the last word — and delay is not something you have to accept.
Most people arrive at these pages while grieving. We run these files with that in mind: plain answers, no pressure, and matters moved forward so you don’t have to carry the process as well as the loss.
Contesting a Will
The hub: every ground on which a will can be challenged, who has standing, and the clocks - starting with the one the court cannot extend.
Section 117 Claims
A child - at any age - can claim where a parent failed in their moral duty to provide. Six months from the grant, no extensions, ever.
Spouse’s Legal Right Share
The share the will cannot defeat: one-third or one-half by law - plus the anti-avoidance tools when the estate was emptied first.
Capacity & Undue Influence
When the will itself is the problem: dementia and capacity, pressure and control, and the will nobody believes they wrote.
Invalid & Lost Wills
DIY wills, missing witnesses, gifts to witnesses, wills nobody can find - the technical failures that change everything.
Executor Disputes & Removal
The executor who won’t distribute, won’t sell, won’t answer - the duties they owe, and the machinery that makes them.
Probate Delays & Stuck Estates
How long probate really takes in the eProbate era, why applications get rejected, and when delay becomes actionable.
Intestacy Disputes
No will: the fixed statutory rules, who administers, and the family rows the default map creates.
Caveats & Probate Actions
The procedure layer: stopping a grant, warnings and appearances, citations, and the High Court probate list.
Promised Inheritance
“The farm will be yours” - a lifetime of reliance meets a will that says otherwise. The estoppel cases, honestly framed.
Joint Accounts & Lifetime Transfers
The estate that emptied before death: joint account presumptions, resulting trusts, and section 121.
Probate & Estate Administration
The foundation: grants of probate and administration, estates run properly by a TEP-qualified solicitor.
Six Months. The Court Cannot Extend It.
The most unforgiving clock in Irish law belongs to inheritance: a section 117 claim — the claim a child of any age can bring where a parent failed in their moral duty to make proper provision — must be brought within six months of the grant of representation issuing, and the court has no power to extend it. Not for good reasons, not for grief, not for negotiations that ran long. Families discover this deadline after it has passed more often than any other in this field. If you have been left out or under-provided and a parent has died, the grant may already be moving through the Probate Office — which means the safest moment to take advice is now, and the assessment costs one confidential call.
Time limits in estate disputes are among the strictest in Irish law — a section 117 claim must be brought within six months of the grant issuing, and the court cannot extend it. Other claims run on their own clocks, some short, some with extensions. Never assume you are out of time, and never assume you have time: take advice promptly. Nothing on this page is legal advice for your situation.
Two minutes on the Will Challenge Checker shows which doors likely fit your situation — and which clocks are running on them.
The TEP Difference
This practice is led by a qualified Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) — the international STEP credential held by specialists in wills, trusts and estates — paired with a Law Society Diploma in Mediation. Specialist expertise for the estates work; the mediation credential for what these disputes really are: families. Litigation prepared properly, and the door out of war kept open for as long as you want it open.
Dublin Practice, Nationwide Reach
The Dublin Probate Office serves Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow — and contested estates from every county are litigated in the High Court in Dublin. Wherever the estate sits, this is where the work happens.
Frequently Asked Questions
One Confidential Call
Your position, the doors that fit it, the clocks running on them, and the honest arithmetic — before you commit to anything.
Call 01 5827148