50 State Testamentary Capacity Project: Massachusetts Testamentary Capacity Expert Definitions

In an effort to provide a better understanding for what testamentary capacity expert psychologists look for when forming opinions about whether the person had testamentary capacity in the execution of a will, trust, beneficiary designation, or other testamentary contractual document, I am highlighting the statutes, case law, and jury instructions specific to all 50 states. Each will be in its own blog post. Twenty-first up, Massachusetts.

In the Matter of the Estate of Charles P. Galatis, 88 Mass. App. Ct. 273

Although there is a presumption that the testator had testamentary capacity, once the contestants produce some evidence of lack of testamentary capacity, the presumption of capacity loses effect and the burden shifts to the proponents to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the testator was able to understand and carry in mind, in a general way, the nature and situation of his property and his relations to those persons who would naturally have some claim to his remembrance, freedom from delusion which is the effect of disease or weakness and which might influence the disposition of his property, and ability at the time of execution to comprehend the nature of the act of making a will, (citing Palmer v. Palmer, 23 Mass. App. Ct. at 250, quoting from Goddard v. Dupree, 322 Mass. 247 , 250 (1948)).

In re: the Estate of John R. Urban, 222 A.D.3d 1088 (2023)

Testamentary capacity requires freedom from delusion which is the effect of disease or weakness and which might influence the disposition of the testator's property and the ability at the time of execution of the alleged will to comprehend the nature of the act of making a will, (citing Paine v. Sullivan, 79 Mass. App. Ct. 811, 817, 950 N.E.2d 874 (2011), Palmer v. Palmer, 23 Mass. App. Ct. 245, 250, 500 N.E.2d 1354 (1986)).

To determine testamentary capacity, the critical question is whether the testator was of sound mind at the time the will was executed. It has been held that, a person may possess testamentary capacity at any given time and lack it at all other times, (citing Matter of the Estate of Rosen, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 793, 798, 23 N.E.3d 116 (2014),  O'Rourke, 446 Mass. at 827, 848 N.E.2d 382).

Whether a testator had testamentary capacity is a question of fact, (citing Matter of the Estate of Galatis, 88 Mass. App. Ct. 273, 278, 36 N.E.3d 1247 (2015)).