New guidelines published to help assess capacity to make and amend a Will

The BPS Mental Capacity Advisory Group has published new guidance to help psychologists assess if someone has the mental capacity to make, revoke or amend a Will.  

Psychologists may be called to give evidence on testamentary capacity (the legal and mental ability to make a Will), particularly if there's a family dispute over the Will or the person making the Will has a progressive condition or mood disorder that there are medical concerns about.  

The new guidance lays out the relevant case laws for doing a testamentary capacity assessment as well as a checklist of questions to ask someone who's making or amending their Will. 

Dr Sonja Soeterik, Mental Capacity Advisory Group member and co-author of the guidelines said: 

"Psychologists are often asked to give opinion on testamentary capacity to solicitors, Will writers and courts. We wanted to pull key information together from across the four nations and their differing legal requirements, to help psychologists tackle testamentary capacity assessments.  

"Many people think ahead and make provision for how they wish their estate to be shared after their death. However, these decisions are accelerated for people with new and deteriorating diagnoses and conditions, such as dementia or motor neurone disease, and for people who've had a sudden life-changing medical injury, such as a brain injury.   

"In younger people who've received significant personal injury or clinical negligence awards, they may have sizeable estates to consider and little pre-injury knowledge of making a Will. We hope that this document will be a useful guide and give psychologists the confidence and knowledge they need to consider all the relevant points in testamentary capacity assessments".