Mental Capacity to Make a Will

[Jonny B]

Hi Does anyone have experience of a Will being changed by someone with Moderate/Severe Alzheimers disease?

[james_law]

Hi,

There a number of people on this site who have vast knowledge of wills and probate. If you post specifically what you are needing advice on or regarding then someone will be able to help you.

[Jonny B]

Hi Im specifically looking for people who have had experience of Wills being changed by someone who has had a diagnosis of Alzheimers and are in the advanced stages of the disease .My Mum passed away and I only found out she had dramatically changed her will after she had passed away. While I can find cases of people who changed their Will soon after diagnosis and had MMSE scores of around 20/30 I'm struggling to find any cases where they had scores of 12/30 before they signed their Will and had been diagnosed 5 years before this.

[Peridot]

Hi Jonny B,
l’m sorry to hear about your mother.
The issue of mental capacity can be fraught with complications. Did your mother have her Will prepared by a lawyer? In the usual course of things the person taking the will instructions has to ensure that the person giving instructions understands hey are instructing a will to be prepared, what the effect will will have and that hey understand this.
As you have found out yourself the fact someone has had a diagnosis of dementia or other degenerative disease does not mean that they do not have legal mental capacity to give will instructions and then understand the effect of signing the Will. Lucidity can come and go during the disease process but there has to be capacity at two points in the Will process, once when giving instructions the other at the signing.
Usually if a lawyer is taking instructions and there is any doubt whatsoever then the ‘golden rule’ is applied. Basically get a mental capacity assessment done confirming whether or not the person has capacity to give instructions and subsequently sign.
When did your mother pass away and has the grant been obtained yet? If you have issues over the wills validity you need to act quite quickly. You would need evidence to back up your view that she did not have capacity. If lawyers were involved in the Will I would suggest making a Larke v Nugus request to the firm. This is where you ask for a copy of their attendance notes from the instructions and signing which should confirm what steps were taken in ascertaining her capacity at the time. This link explains further:- www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/101713
It may also be appropriate for a caveat to be entered to prevent the grant being issued until you have a bit more information.
I would suggest that you obtain some advice from a contested probate specialist. You may find a free half hour or reduced fee first appointment hat will hopefully look at the options open to you and the likelihood of making a successful claim if needs be.
They can be difficult claims to prove, so getting together some further information from the person who wrote the Will would be a sensible start.
Do post back if we can give you any more pointers.