Medical Negligence
Pearson Legal
Full Credential Description
META DESCRIPTION: Pearsons Inheritance and Will Dispute Solicitors successfully challenged a will for a family who were suspicious of a second will and estate. Family successfully challenges Will due to lack of capacity Family successfully challenges Will due to lack of capacity When an elderly lady left her entire estate to someone outside of the family, her family became suspicious and challenged the will. After almost 4 years our Inheritance and Will Disputes department were able to successfully conclude the matter and the majority of her substantial estate was passed to the family. Challenging a suspicious Will In this case, the deceased sadly passed away in July 2018 but had made a new will in March 2016 (‘the disputed will’) when she was 84 years old. The second disputed will, which Pearson’s Inheritance and Will Dispute solicitors challenged, appointed another law firm as executors and stated that her estate pass to Mr X as sole beneficiary. Prior to making the second will our client’s auntie had sadly suffered from mixed dementia, both Alzheimer’s and Vascular dementia and had been under the care of the Mental Health Services team for a number of years prior to the making of the disputed will. “This was a long and protracted case and when we obtained the medical records for the deceased they indicated a number of significant events from 2012 onwards showing she did not have the capacity to make a new will. The medical records clearly showed that the deceased fell short of the required standard of capacity and we brought a claim that the 2016 will was invalid due to a lack of capacity,” said Head of Inheritance and Will Disputes, Laura Pracy. Banks v Goodfellow As set out in Banks v Goodfellow [1875] AC 161 when assessing capacity the testator must be able to understand: The nature of making a will and its effects; The extent of the property which she is disposing; Be able to comprehend and appreciate the claims to which she ought to give effect; Have no disorder of the mind that perverts her sense of right or prevent the exercise of her natural faculties in disposing of her property by will.