IPA Task Force

Testamentary Capacity and Undue Influence

Background

Mental health professionals working with older adults are often confronted with issues related to diminished capacity and undue influence. The Testamentary Capacity Task Force has concentrated on one such area, involving the ability of an individual to execute a will directing the dispensation of their estate after death. Such transfers of wealth can stimulate discord in families, and are often challenged on grounds of lack of capacity or the presence of undue influence. Laws governing wills differ internationally, and the role of mental health professions in guiding courts also differs internationally. The Testamentary Capacity Task Force has been convened to explore these international differences, and to educate mental health professionals on the issues that relate to determination of testamentary capacity.

Progress

The Testamentary Capacity Task Force convened at the recent IPA Congress in Osaka in 2007, and met again and coordinated a symposium at the IPA 2008 International in Dublin.

The Task Force is currently working on publications and symposia for upcoming IPA Meetings. The first two papers, The Wills of Older People: Risk Factors for Undue Influence (Peisah et al) and Contemporaneous assessment of testamentary capacity (Shulman et al) are ‘in press’ for International Psychogeriatrics.. The task force activities will also be reported at the IPA symposium on ‘Advocacy initiatives’ at the AAGP meeting in Honolulu in March 2009.

For more information about this Task Force, please contact info@ipa-online.org.

(Posted January 2009)

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