Must elderly person (sufferring depression) get a go ahead from Dr before making will

My elderly sister is in a nursing home suffering from depression, can she make a will without getting the go ahead from her doctor, i.e would someone have good grounds to dispute the will if her doctor hadnt given her the go ahead to make the will?

Re: Making a Will

Solicitors are not doctors. If someone asked me to come and make a will for them, but telling me they were suffering from depression I really wouldn't be able to say whether they were fit to make a will. I would ask for a doctors certificate to say whether they were fit or not. Now if the person really objected to that I could go and meet them ( if they insisted) without the doctors certificate and see what I thought. But I would have a doubt- because I am just not qualified to know whether they were fit or not.

Any will can be challenged. So if someone challenged your sisters will after her death it would come down to the evidence of her doctors/solicitor as to whether she was competent to make a will or not. That cannot be second guessed. So much better to get a doctors cert now than to face an expensive court action with an uncertain outcome later.

Re: Making a Will

Thank you for your response Vanilla. Could i ask you if she did go ahead and make a will without the doctors cert and it was later challenged, would the outcome be that a previous will that she wrote would be declared her last will or would a judge seek a compromise amongst the parties concerned? This is of course based on the fact that it was declared that she was incapable of making a will while she was suffering from depression.

Re: Must elderly person (sufferring depression) get a go ahead from Dr before making

"Could i ask you if she did go ahead and make a will without the doctors cert and it was later challenged, would the outcome be that a previous will that she wrote would be declared her last will or would a judge seek a compromise amongst the parties concerned?"

Vanillas advice is very good and very clear. You just cannot second guess in a situation like this. It may be that a Court would strike down the last made will or not. Very often, at this stage in an elderly/vulnerable persons life, there is a clear enough ( at least to the outsider) plan of campaign in the offing from someone in the family. Be that someone who may challenge or someone who is pushing her to make a will. The plan of campaign is not often that obvious to the people involved e.g. why make a will now without doctors cert. if it may be challenged. Who is it that wants the sister to make the will? And if the sister does not wish to make the will?

mf