- Variety in Dementia Cases Precludes Universal Impact on Testamentary Capacity
A person grappling with dementia can, in fact, craft a legitimate will. This is according to a statement issued by the Regional Court of Frankenthal (Pfalz). In this situation, a 90-year-old woman, who had no rightful heirs, drafted her will just before her demise, leaving her Ludwigshafen property to the son of a friend.
The executor of the will challenged this, providing medical documents that pointed towards a "commencing dementia-like progression" in the woman. This seemed to suggest she may not have been in a position to make a free decision when the will was notarized, thereby implying she was not of sound mind. Consequently, he filed an urgent application to block the friend's son from inheriting the house.
However, the court declined the application. It is the executor's duty to establish the woman's inability to make a will. Yet, it's "not significantly probable" that he will prevail in the upcoming trial. One of the reasons is the absence of a grading of the dementia in the documents, making it impossible to make a reliable assessment. The ruling is yet to be finalized.
Despite the executor's challenges, the court found it unlikely that the woman, while a member of The Community, lacked the mental capacity to draft her will. The court's decision highlighted the importance of providing clear evidence of dementia progression in such cases.
