Challenge to Will drawn up by Alzheimer’s Sufferer with a Solicitor Fails

Two granddaughters challenged a will made by their grandmother on the grounds she was not mentally competent to make the will and she was under the undue influence of someone else when the will was written.

The grandmother had made a will previously where she left her home to be shared equally between her granddaughters and a part of the rest of her estate to their aunt. After making this will, the grandmother developed Alzheimer’s. The aunt wrote to the grandmother, discussing the terms of the original will. After some months, the grandmother used a solicitor to draw up a new will which gave the bulk of her estate to the aunt.

The court found that although the grandmother’s Alzheimer’s caused short term memory loss, it did not mean that she was mentally incapacitated at the time of making the new will. So the granddaughters’ challenge on the grounds that their grandmother was not mentally competent failed.

The court then considered whether the grandmother was under the undue influence of someone else when the new will was written. The grandmother had discussed changing her will with her sister and thought about it for several months before visiting the solicitor twice. She had also seen a draft of the will and confirmed it reflected how she now wanted her estate to be distributed. Therefore the granddaughters’ challenge on grounds that their grandmother was under the undue influence of their aunt also failed.

If you wish to draw up a will that properly reflects how you want to distribute your estate, please contact us on 01858 445493 or complete one of the on-line forms to make an appointment now. You can make an appointment at our branches in Market Harborough, Wigston or on Uppingham Road in Leicester, or we can make a home visit if you prefer. Our solicitors will help you draw up a will as you wish and ensure there are no doubts about the circumstances when your will was made so that there will be no grounds for relatives to challenge your will later.