The High Court has ruled that a will made by a man who was suffering from delusions caused by late-onset schizophrenia was invalid for want of testamentary capacity.
In late 2013, the man had become concerned that someone was trying to break into his home and damage it, in an effort to persuade him to sell it. He had said that he could see bright lights being shone through the hedges and hear tapping on the windows. He was detained under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in February 2014 and was diagnosed with persistent delusional disorder. In December 2014 he made a will making significant bequests to his companion, his sister and his nephew, and leaving one quarter of his estate to be divided equally between his four daughters. He signed a letter of wishes, written out by the companion, claiming that his daughters had lied to his GP because they had wanted him sectioned in order to sell his home.
He died in 2022, at the age of 79. His daughters challenged the validity of the will on the basis that he had lacked testamentary capacity to make it. Alternatively, they argued that it should be set aside as having been procured by the fraudulent calumny of his companion and his sister. It was agreed that, if either claim were made out, he would have died intestate and his daughters would inherit his estate as next of kin.
The Court considered evidence from a single joint expert who concluded that, when the will was executed, it was unlikely that the man would have been able to comprehend and appreciate the claims to which he ought to give effect, and that he had had a disorder of the mind that had perverted his sense of right or prevented the exercise of his natural faculties in disposing of his property. The Court found that he had previously been averse to making a will, and accepted his daughters’ evidence that his stated intention had been for his estate to pass equally to them on intestacy.
It was apparent that one of his daughters had come to appreciate that the harassment he thought he was experiencing was not in fact taking place, and that the consequences for him were becoming extreme. Because he had believed that the nuisance was genuine, he had also believed that his daughter’s concern was motivated by mercenary and evil motives. In the Court’s view, those delusions were caused by late-onset schizophrenia and had plainly been operative when the will was made. He had not been able to understand or give effect to the claims of his daughters, and the will was therefore void for want of testamentary capacity.
However, the Court rejected the claim of fraudulent calumny. Although the sister and the companion had made false allegations against the daughters with the aim of inducing the man to make a will that was less favourable to them, they had both believed that he was being harassed and that his daughters were trying to have him sectioned for their own financial gain. The allegations had thus not been made fraudulently.
