Competence to sign a will
The legal term for this is "testamentary capacity." Texas law requires the following five elements to be present. The person who is completing a will must:
1. Know/understand that they are making a will (the business at hand);
2. Know/understand the parameters of his/her estate (nature & extent of their property);
3. Know/understand the "natural objects of their bounty," (typical inheritors; the persons dependent upon his bounty, and the persons to whom he/she means to devise and bequeath his/her property);
4. Know/understand how the will distributes his/her property; and
5. Have sufficient memory to collect in his/her mind the elements of the business to be transacted, and to hold them long enough to perceive at least their obvious relation to each other, and be able to form a reasonable judgment as to them.
Dr. Chafetz is frequently called upon to assess an individual who is preparing to sign a will, in order to document the degree to which the person has the cognitive ability to fulfill these requirements for testamentary capacity.
1. Know/understand that they are making a will (the business at hand);
2. Know/understand the parameters of his/her estate (nature & extent of their property);
3. Know/understand the "natural objects of their bounty," (typical inheritors; the persons dependent upon his bounty, and the persons to whom he/she means to devise and bequeath his/her property);
4. Know/understand how the will distributes his/her property; and
5. Have sufficient memory to collect in his/her mind the elements of the business to be transacted, and to hold them long enough to perceive at least their obvious relation to each other, and be able to form a reasonable judgment as to them.
Dr. Chafetz is frequently called upon to assess an individual who is preparing to sign a will, in order to document the degree to which the person has the cognitive ability to fulfill these requirements for testamentary capacity.
