Course Description
Will and trust contests frequently turn on nuanced questions of testamentary capacity, contractual capacity, and undue influence. This program provides attorneys with a practical framework for understanding how forensic psychiatrists and forensic neuropsychologists evaluate cognitive and decision-making capacity in both premortem and postmortem contexts. Using statutory examples and case-based illustrations, the presenters explain why functional mental capacity—not diagnosis alone—drives legal analysis. The course also addresses rebuttable presumptions, burden shifting, screening test limitations, and the evidentiary role of neurocognitive testing in probate litigation.
Principles
- Overview of Testamentary Capacity Standards
- Contractual Capacity & Trust Modifications
- Undue Influence
- Premortem vs. Postmortem Evaluations
- Strategic Use of Forensic Experts in Probate Litigation
Syllabus
- Overview of Testamentary Capacity Standards
- Understanding the nature and purpose of a will
- Nature and extent of one’s property
- Identification of natural heirs
- Appreciation of the consequences of disinheritance
- Contractual Capacity & Trust Modifications
- Capacity continuum based on document complexity
- Functional cognitive domains required for contractual competence
- Limitations of screening tools (MMSE, MoCA, SLUMS)
- Undue Influence
- Legal definition and statutory framework
- Vulnerability factors and influencer tactics
- Rebuttable presumptions and burden shifting
- Undue influence as a psychological process
- Premortem vs. Postmortem Evaluations
- Role of contemporaneous neurocognitive testing
- Inferential reasoning from documentary evidence
- Strategic Use of Forensic Experts in Probate Litigation
- When to involve experts
- Certificate of Independent Review
- Case-based illustrations
