Justice validates the will of an elderly man with Alzheimer's who leaves one of his daughters as universal heir: the rest will only receive the legitimate part

Justice validates the will of an elderly man with Alzheimer’s who leaves one of his daughters as universal heir: the rest will only receive the legitimate part

The Provincial Court of Asturias has confirmed the validity of the will made by an elderly man with Alzheimer’s after the dispute that arose between his children over the distribution of the inheritance. The will named one of the daughters as universal heir, leaving only the legitimate part of the inheritance for the rest of the siblings. Following the lawsuit of another of the daughters alleging her father’s incapacity, due to the cognitive deterioration caused by the disease, when establishing the distribution, the court concludes that it is valid.

According to the details of the sentence, it arises from the demand of one of the daughters for the distribution of the inheritance, which was made according to the will granted by her father. According to what the deceased argued at the time of doing it He had advanced cognitive impairment caused by Alzheimer’s, a vertebrobasilar stroke and normal pressure hydrocephalus, and which, according to him, made him incapable of making testamentary decisions.

To file the lawsuit, the daughter presented several imedical reports that supported his position and was based on the provisions of article 662 of the Civil Code, which determines that “all those who are not expressly prohibited by law may make a will,” and article 666, which states that “to assess the capacity of the testator, only the to the state in which it is found at the time of granting the will.”

The court considers that there is no evidence of the elderly man’s inability to make a will and considers the will valid.

With all the evidence provided, the Court of First Instance No. 11 of Gijón determined that the medical reports establish that the deceased At the time of granting the will, it maintained coherent and fluid language, it was oriented in person, time and space, and recognized his family members. Despite this, it is recognized that he did suffer a slight cognitive impairment, but according to experts he was capable of making decisions.

Another important aspect that stands out is that a notary had authorized said will, and he himself declared that the father had sufficient capacity to make a will. Based on this, the ruling indicates that the Civil Code itself establishes in article 685 that The notary must “ensure that, in his opinion, the testator has the necessary legal capacity to make a will.” and that this notarial judgment constitutes a presumption iuris tantum (which admits a fact as proven in court, as long as there is no evidence to the contrary) and that it can only be refuted with conclusive evidence.

For all this The court dismissed the lawsuit, which the daughter appealed to the Provincial Court. To this end, he alleged that much importance had been given to partial medical tests and others that indicated severe cognitive impairment had been ignored.

The Provincial Court of Asturias rejected these allegations, confirming that, according to the medical reports provided at the time the will was made It was not proven that his father did not have sufficient capacity to make a will.

The ruling highlights that the notary’s judgment has a relevant value that the evidence did not contradict and that in order to demonstrate that there is no capacity to make a will, it is necessary to provide evidence that confirms it. Therefore, the Court validates the sentence issued by the Court in the first instance and considers valid the will issued by her father in which only the legitimate part would correspond to her of the inheritance while his other sister would be the universal heir.