Taking Instructions: Red Flags Relating to Capacity and Undue Influence (How Do You Know There is a Problem?)

• Author: Liza C. Sheard
• Pages: 189-209



TakingInstructions

REDFL AGS RELATINGTOCAPACIT Y AND

UNDUE INFLUE NCEHOWDO YOUKNOW

THEREISAPROBLEM

LizaCSheardCS*

Therei sno diculty int hecase of araving madman ora drivelling

idiotin saying that heis nota person capableof disposing property.

Butbetweensuchanextremecaseandthatofamanofperfectlysound

andvigorousunderstandingthereiseveryshadeofintellecteveryde-

greeofmenta lcapacityThereisnop ossibilityofm istakingm idnight

forno on butat what prec ise moment twilight be comes darkness is

hard to determine . . .

BoysevRossborough

Eachareaofthepracticeoflawha sitsparticularc hallengesForestates

lawyersone oft hecentral challenges can be theabil ityto identify the

dierence between what the Lord Chancellor in B oyse vRossborough

calledtwilightanddarkness

Itis common for estates lawyers tobe cal ledupon to assess their

clientslegal capacity to make a wi ll powerof aorney or sign icant

giThatimporta nttaskismademoredicultbecausethe conceptsof

legalcapacity and undueinuence are somewhatuid andat leastat

themarginsil ldened

Unfortunatelythe dicult iesi nherent in the process of client as-

sessmentarematchedbyther isksarisingfromfa ilingtodoitproperly

 OfEvansSweenyBordinLLPTheauthorwouldliketotha nkPeterGLawsonfor

his researc h and assistance in prepa ring this paper.

 HLCasat

LCSCS

Intheca seoftheelderlyclienttherisksa reparticularlyapparentbot h

becauseoftheirrelativevulnerabil ityandtheirrelativewealthInaddi-

tionthe solicitoris also atrisk Theduty whicha solicitorowesto the

clientencompassesadutytocompetentlyassesstheclientscapacityand

freedom fromu ndueinuence and anyfailureto do so can leadto a

claimofprofessionalnegligenceArguablybothareasofriskarebecom-

ing more pronounced. Dr. Kenneth Shulman and his colleagues suggest

thatthe increasingcomplexity offamily structures combinedwith the

highprevalenceofdementiainolderadultspointtowardanincreasein

estatelitigationandspecicallychallengestowills

Notwithstanding theapparentt rendtowardlitigationit isimport-

antto remembert hata lawyersdutydoes notextend tog uaranteeing

thecapacityoft heclientThedutyi stomakereasonablea ndinformed

inquiries and todocu menthis observations If capacity isi nissue the

lawyermay be one of a number of wit nesses whose evidence will be

consideredbythe courtThe lawyersevidenceisimportant andsome-

timesdeterminativeoftheis sueeveninthefaceofevidenceofmedical

professionalswhoconcludethatthepersonisincapable

With these high stakes in m ind this paper will aempt to chart

severalof the mineelds whicha solicitor mustcrosswhen taki ngin-

structionsa ndinso doingtohigh lightanumberof theredagsor

warningsignswhichshouldputthesolicitoronalert

ATESTAMENTARYCAPACITY

Capacityatlawvar iesdependingon thecontext andin particularde-

pending ont het askor tran sactionathand For purelypersonal deci-

sionsthelawsetsafairlyundemandingstandardhoweverfornancial

decisionsandinpart icularnancialdecision sthatmightaectothers

itsets a moreexacting standard Int hecaseof testamentary capacity

Canadian courts have adopted the test set out in the leading c ase of

BanksvGoodfellowBanks

Itisessentialtotheexerciseofsuchapowerthatatestatorshallunder-

standthenatureoftheactanditseectsshallunderstandtheextentof

 KIShulmanet alContemporaneou sAssessmentofTestamentar yCapacity

InternationalPsychogeriat ricsat

 SeeBeauronevBeauroneEstateOJNoGenDiv

 CalvertLitigationguardianofvCalver tOJNoGenDivad

OJNoCAleavetoappealtoSCCrefusedSCCANo

 BanksvGoodfellowLRQBatBanks].