Iowa Will Contest Rejected by Iowa Court of Appeals

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The Iowa Court of Appeals issued a ruling today affirming a ruling of an appeal in a will contest case.  The contestants to the will were basing their argument that the testator (decedent) lacked sufficient capacity to execute her will as she suffered from certain delusions as to certain family members/beneficiaries.  According to the ruling, certain medical evidence was properly excluded as the proposed evidence related to medical information after the execution of the will, and not during the time period the will was executed.  In other words, any evidence concerning the testator AFTER the signing of the will may not be relevant in determining capacity at the time of signing the will.  In this case, the testator was diagnosed with cancer after signing the will and was under medication for that treatment.  The contestants also objected to the jury instructions used in referring to the delusions.  The Court rejected the appeal and affirmed the findings of the jury.

The will contestants also made the claim that the testator was unduly influenced, but the jury didn't agree.  Not a lot of facts provided in this ruling as to the evidence that was presented.

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