PTo make a will, you must be of sound mind, says the civil code. An heir or a legatee who is dissatisfied with a will can therefore have this act annulled, by invoking the insanity of mind of the testator. Attention, insanity of mind is not the simple alteration of the mental faculties, as the following case shows.
From 1987, Mr.me X, who has neither husband nor children, but three brothers, A, B and C, and two sisters, E and F, writes several wills, in which she appoints her brother A universal legatee (she bequeaths all her property to him) . When she died, in 2018, at the age of 88, her brother had the unpleasant surprise to discover that she had, on October 10, 2010, by holograph will (written by her hand), revoked the previous one.
She motivated this change as follows: “Hospitalized in the spring of 2010 [à la suite d’un AVC], then in convalescence at La Châtaigneraie (Cormeilles-en-Parisis), my brother A contented himself with appealing to a guardianship judge to have a “future protection mandate” adopted for me, depriving me, since then, of any elementary freedom, without even informing a family council, betraying in this way the trust that I granted him previously. »
Instead of inheriting all of his sister’s property, Mr. A is only entitled to one-fifth (the other four-fifths going to his brothers and sisters or, when they are deceased, to the children of these). He takes legal action and contests the validity of the will, for insanity of mind.
Impairment of mental faculties
Mr. A provides: the medical examination of the geriatrician of Mr.me X, who, on May 27, 2010, diagnosed a “alteration” of his mental faculties and advises his placement under guardianship; the hospitalization report (from May 15 to June 7, 2010), which certifies the existence of a “mixed dementia and a risk of spoliation » ; and Doctor Z’s examination, dated June 14, 2010, which confirms the “mixed dementia and impairment of mental faculties” and advocates enhanced protection. After being placed under judicial safeguard, the 1er July 2010, the old lady will be placed under reinforced curatorship on January 7, 2011, and under guardianship on April 29, 2014.
The rest of the family disputes that Mr.me X was struck with insanity of mind when the will was drawn up. The brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews and nieces emphasize the fact that the substance of the will, like its writing, is clear. They produce a letter that Mme X had sent to the guardianship judge, two months before this act, to complain about being the subject of a protective measure. They explain that the contradiction of the last testament with the precedents is explained by ” the treason “ of the brother, who took steps with the judge of guardianships without either Mme X nor his family have been notified.
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