Will of grandmother with Alzheimer's disease is upheld by court

The High Court has dismissed a challenge to the validity of a will made by a woman while she was suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease.

Before she became ill, the woman had made a will saying her home should be divided equally between her two granddaughters and that the rest of her estate should be divided between her daughter - the granddaughters' aunt - and another person.

Shortly after she became ill, the aunt became aware of the provisions of her mother's will and wrote to her expressing her concern. This was followed by further correspondence between them and eventually they went to see a solicitor together and the will was changed. This left most of the estate to the aunt.

The granddaughters did not know that the will had been changed. When they discovered its new provisions after their grandmother's death, they decided it should be challenged. They contended that their grandmother lacked testamentary capacity when she made the new will and had been subjected to undue influence.

However, the court ruled that although the medical evidence showed that the grandmother had suffered short-term memory loss because of her illness, there was nothing to say that she lacked testamentary capacity. The granddaughters had also failed to prove that she had come under undue influence.

Instead, it could be shown that the grandmother had spent several months considering the changes to her will, had discussed the issues with her sister and had twice visited her solicitor and confirmed that she was satisfied with the new provisions.

Judgment was therefore given in favour of the aunt.