Estate Planning

The Spinster, the Rocket Scientist and Two Forged Codicils

By Hull and Hull LLP

Alleging a forgery is one thing.  Proving it is another.  But it may be the surrounding circumstances, rather than handwriting analysis, that ultimately satisfy the trier of fact that a fraud was committed.

Consider a recent case reported in the British media.  A widow with a daughter and son left a Will and two Codicils.  Her spinster daughter, who had moved into her mother's residence in the years before her death, was found to have forged the Codicils.  Evidence led at trial suggested that the mother was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and was confrontational with and suspicious of her daughter.

The deceased's original will divided her home and the rest of her estate equally between her daughter and her son.  But in a Codicil, she apparently wrote: 'I wish my daughter to keep the house and everything in the house, and any remaining savings to be divided between my daughter and son... I am worried for my daughter's future as she is unmarried and growing older and I wish her to feel safe here.' [emphasis added]. The second Codicil substantially echoed the first.

The trial judge concluded that the Codicils were forged and, even if not forged, were not made at a time when the deceased had the requisite testamentary capacity.

It may not have helped that the son of the deceased was a "spacecraft propulsion engineer" described by the trial judge as "practical and businesslike", while the daughter, representing herself, "struggled financially."

David M. Smith 

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on July 21, 2010 (boomark / email).