Revisiting the importance of the Golden Rule of testamentary capacity

The recent High Court case of Ginger v Mickelburgh¹ reinforces the importance of the ‘Golden Rule’, i.e. the need to obtain an assessment of testamentary capacity by a medical practitioner in cases involving older or unwell testators.

The judgement held that a will made by a Mr. Gwilliam in 2014 was invalid because he lacked testamentary capacity at the time of making the will. He suffered a delusional disorder for which he was detained under the Mental Health Act in the same year that he made the will, but he did not have a testamentary capacity assessment. Mr. Gwilliam bequeathed the majority of his estate to his sister, a former partner and his nephews at the expense of his 4 daughters who were allocated a 25% share of the estate which was to be split amongst them. In the case which only came to court this year, the judge ruled that had Mr. Gwilliam not been suffering from a delusional disorder he would not have made the will.

Since the will was deemed invalid, the judge declared that Mr. Gwilliam died intestate. Under intestacy laws, his daughters inherit his estate. The case was settled 4 years after Mr. Gwilliam’s death. Had a contemporaneous testamentary capacity assessment been undertaken to begin with, the unnecessary stress endured by the family could have been avoided. The importance of the Golden Rule cannot be stressed enough.

¹[2026] EWHC 100 (Ch)