28 Sep 2017

Testamentary Capacity

Description

This session will look at testamentary capacity both from the perspective of making a will and challenging a will on the grounds of capacity (or defending a challenge to a will) through to hearing or compromise.

It will include the following:

• Banks v Goodfellow and the legal test revisited;

• The capacity “aspects” of knowledge and approval and undue influence;

• The rule in Parker v Felgate;

• The draftsman’s duty in respect of capacity when making a will;

• The current status of the golden rule;

• The importance of good attendance notes (with sample notes to provoke discussion);

• Instructing medical experts - the principles and the practical reality;

• The role for the statutory will;

• Capacity challenges – the procedure in brief and the burden of proof;

• Acting for a claimant in a prospective capacity challenge – first steps and evidence gathering/acting for a defendant beneficiary or executor;

• The role of the draftsman in capacity challenges, including Larke v Nugus letters;

• Litigation procedure, including dealing with caveats;

• Compromises;

• Costs.

The session will be delivered by Sheena Grattan BL. Sheena is a practising Chancery barrister in Northern Ireland specialising in private client work. Previously she was a senior lecturer in the Law School of Queen's University, Belfast lecturing in Equity (including Trusts), Land Law, Inheritance and the Law and Revenue Law, having started her career as a solicitor in private practice. Sheena is the author of several legal texts including Succession Law in Northern Ireland (SLS), and, with James Kessler QC, Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts in Northern Ireland (Bloomsbury). She is a founding member of the STEP: Northern Ireland branch and in 2012 was the recipient of a STEP Founder's award for outstanding achievement. She has been an examiner and tutor for both the Administration of Trusts and Administration of Estates components of the STEP/CLT Diploma programme in Northern Ireland since its inception.