Ali Biria v Hamid Biria & Ors
[2024] EWHC 121 (Ch)
Vanessa Jean Davies v Barbara Eleanor Watts & Anor
17 May 2024
[2024] EWHC 1177 (Ch)
High Court
Someone challenged a will because the person who made it was sick and might have been confused. The judge looked at medical records, what witnesses said, and how the will was made. The judge decided the sick person understood what they were doing and the will was valid.
Key Facts
- •Philip Price (deceased) executed a will leaving his estate to Vanessa Davies (Claimant).
- •Barbara Watts (First Defendant), Philip Price's recently discovered half-sister, challenges the will's validity.
- •The estate includes Middle House Farm, a vintage gun collection, and significant monetary assets.
- •The will was signed shortly after Price's hospitalization for pneumonia and sepsis.
- •Price suffered from delirium during his hospital stay, raising concerns about testamentary capacity.
- •Expert psychiatric opinions differed on whether delirium impacted Price's capacity at the time of will execution.
- •The closeness of the relationship between Price and Davies was a key disputed issue.
- •Discrepancies existed between a solicitor's initial notes and the final wording of the will.
- •Several witnesses testified about Price's mental state before and after will execution.
Legal Principles
Testamentary capacity requires understanding the nature of the act, the extent of property disposed, the claims to which one ought to give effect, and freedom from mental disorder affecting affections or sense of right.
Banks v Goodfellow (1870) LR 5 QB 549
The burden of proof for testamentary capacity rests initially on the proponent of the will (Claimant). A presumption of capacity arises if the will is rationally executed. If doubt is raised, the burden shifts back to the proponent.
Key v Key [2010] EWHC 408 (Ch)
Testamentary capacity focuses on potential to understand, not perfect memory. Understanding immediate consequences of a disposition suffices, not necessarily collateral consequences.
Simon v Byford [2014] EWCA Civ 280
The 'golden rule' (not a legal rule but a guideline) advises solicitors preparing wills for elderly or seriously ill testators to obtain medical confirmation of capacity.
Key v Key [2010] EWHC 408 (Ch); Burns v Burns [2016] EWCA Civ 37
Knowledge and approval of a will's contents require the testator to understand the will's contents and their effect.
Gill v Woodall [2010] EWCA Civ 1430
Outcomes
The claim succeeds; the will is valid.
The court found that Philip Price possessed testamentary capacity despite his illness and the possibility of intermittent delirium. The evidence from Vanessa Davies and her witnesses, regarding Price's mental sharpness despite physical frailty, was deemed more credible than that presented by the defendant. Minor inconsistencies in the will, such as the omission of two ponies, were not deemed sufficient to overturn the will's validity.