The person making the will must have:
understood the nature of making the will
the extent of the property which he/she was disposing of and:
the claims to which he/she ought to give effect to
These principals were established in a case called ‘Banks v Goodfellow’ and is a case by which subsequent decisions have rested.
Frequently, we see cases where wills are altered close to death or where the testator may have been suffering from some mental incapacity. If a lack of capacity is alleged then the third party alleging the lack of capacity must prove that the testator lacked capacity.
This can be very difficult to establish and often an expert witness is required to show the capacity of the deceased at the time the will was executed.
We have a long history of dealing with such matters.