Trust Contest Lawyers in California

Andersen also raises concerns regarding the application of the contractual capacity standard to nonprobate at-death transfer instruments, which can lead to incongruous results. Although the Andersen court upheld the decedent’s trust amendments, it invalidated his insurance policy and joint tenancy account designations even though beneficiary designations, like wills and revocable trusts, are testamentary in nature. For consistency, a person’s capacity to make a beneficiary designation — which is generally easier to understand than a will or simple trust amendment –should be the same as that required to make or amend a will or trust.

The standard for testamentary capacity is exceptionally low. Probate Code section 6100.5, lists criteria stating an individual is not mentally competent to make a will if unable to understand the nature of the testamentary act, understand and recollect the nature of his or her assets, or remember and understand his or her relationship to family members, friends, and those whose interests are affected by the will. (Probate Code, § 6100.5, subd. (a)(1).)  In addition, an individual lacks mental competence if he or she suffers from a mental disorder with symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations that cause him or her to devise property in a way the individual “would not have done.” (Probate Code, § 6100.5, subd. (a)(2).) Interestingly, this seemingly clearly written statutory authority has been interpreted by the courts to create a very low standard for testamentary capacity.  It is well settled, “old age, feebleness, forgetfulness, filthy personal habits, personal eccentricities, failure to recognize old friends or relatives, physical disability, absent-mindedness and mental confusion do not furnish grounds for holding that a testator lacked testamentary capacity.” (Estate of Selb, supra, 84 Cal.App.2d at p. 49.)     

Indeed, even hallucinations and delusions do not demonstrate lack of capacity if they are not related to the testamentary act. (Estate of Perkins (1925) 195 Cal. 699, 704; see also Estate of Fritschi (1963) 60 Cal.2d 367, 372 [testator in hospital with fatal cancer, physically weak, disturbed and under heavy dosage of drugs possessed testamentary capacity].) And like marital capacity, the mere fact the testator is under a conservatorship will not support a finding of lack of testamentary capacity without additional evidence of mental incompetence for making a will. (Probate Code, § 1871, subd. (c).)

Please contact our office today at 310-914-3222 from the greater Los Angeles, or 714-280-0601 from Orange County or 818-787-1011 from Ventura County or 415-465-6566 from Northern California.