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.