Testamentary Capacity: Are You in the Mood?
A recent case out of England has led to an interesting twist on testamentary capacity. In Sharp v. Adam [2006] EWCA 449, the English Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge’s ruling that the unexplained exclusion of the testator’s daughters from his Will, together with evidence of brain deterioration (due to Multiple Sclerosis), was enough to set aside the Will on the basis of incapacity. This was despite evidence that the testator was able to communicate effectively by blinking and using a spelling board, and his experienced solicitor and family doctor were present when the Will was signed and had concluded that the testator had the requisite capacity.
In essence, the case turned on the lack of an explanation for why the testator had excluded his daughters. There was no evidence of undue influence by the named beneficiaries or of any problems with the daughters. While the Court of Appeal accepted that the testator’s ‘cognitive ability’ was satisfactory to make the Will, his ‘mood’ was not. In excluding his daughters inexplicably from his Will, the Court concluded that the testator’s ‘mood’ was so affected by his MS that this deprived him of the requisite testamentary capacity. This arguably raises the threshold for establishing testamentary capacity. A challenger to a Will may now be able to convince a court to set a Will aside on the basis that the testator’s mood was impaired, even if his/her cognitive abilities remained intact.
Have a great day!
Bianca La Neve
