Wills, testamentary capacity and undue influence.

Psychiatrists are generally familiar with the issues involved in testamentary capacity, but not with the nuances involved in undue influence. The legal factors in determining undue influence where the will of one party is substituted or imposed on the testator have been reviewed. Most important are circumstances where the testator has some degree of mental impairment, where a person in a position of trust imposes his or her will on a testator and is a beneficiary in some way, where there are unusual circumstances in the disposition of property or where there are suspicious circumstances that raise such a question. In particular, a lawyer who prepared a will in which he is a beneficiary will be vulnerable to a charge of undue influence. Examples of actual occurrences have been presented. They illustrate the fact that psychiatric evaluation may be most important in determining the validity of a will even where there is no finding of testamentary incapacity. In such cases, the psychiatric or other medical information is only one factor to be considered by the judge along with the other elements to be considered by the court. Undue influence is therefore another area of the law about which forensic psychiatrists should be familiar and knowledgeable. Hopefully, this review will serve that purpose.