The ability to execute a valid, binding will in Minnesota is dependent upon the testator's capacity. Minnesota law is interesting in that a person's capacity to distribute potentially millions of dollars is very, very low. You can, for example, be in any of the nursing homes in Hugo and have some degree of dementia, yet still legally decide what to do with your estate.
In determining testamentary capacity, Minnesota courts consider
“(1) the reasonableness of the property disposition;
(2) the testator’s conduct within a reasonable time before and after executing the will;
(3) a prior adjudication of the testator’s mental capacity; and
(4) expert testimony about the testator’s physical and mental condition.”
The testator's required mental capacity to make a will is less than is required to contract generally, “[a]nd even a person under a conservatorship may have sufficient capacity to execute a will.”
Expert witnesses generally will be in the form of the attorney who drafted the estate documents and health care practitioners. Preferably the health care practitioner is in the local area. A medical doctor in White Bear Lake treating a Hugo resident on a regular basis is better situated to render an opinion on the testator's capacity than is a doctor in Duluth who sees the testator just one time.
There's certainly more to this analysis, but the point to be taken from here is that it may not be too late to create your will (or have you relative create their will). Each case is fact dependent and each situation different, but feel free to run your situation past me for an assessment.
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