Paul Hewitt, Paola Fudakowska & Adam Cloherty report on declining capacity, mutual wills & rectification
In Perrins v Holland [2010] EWCA Civ 840, the Court of Appeal reinforced and approved the well-known rule in Parker v Felgate (1883) LR 8 PD 171.
In April 2000, when he had testamentary capacity, R gave instructions for a will revoking a former will in D’s favour and leaving his entire estate to A. However, in September 2001, when he finally executed the will, R no longer had full capacity—although it was read and summarised to him, he approved it, and it continued to represent his testamentary intentions. At first instance, applying Parker v Felgate, Lewison J held that the will was therefore valid.
D appealed to the Court of Appeal, submitting that (i) the decision in Parker v Felgate was wrong; (ii) by definition R could not have known and approved of the will when executing it if he lacked full capacity at that time; and (iii) in applying the Parker v Felgate, Lewison J had failed to consider whether R’s instructions were “settled”
