Evaluating Capacity in Estate Planning

That is where our attorneys come in. And there's really no set test in Arizona. There's not a set of guidelines where we can pull a list and basically check off. It is up to the attorney to have the conversation with that person and kind of make a determination of capacity in that moment.

Capacity can be from hour to hour, day to day, week to week. So, somebody may have capacity on Tuesday and then on Thursday they don't.

And so, it's really important that when somebody meets with an attorney to update a will, update a trust, maybe do some new powers of attorney, that they are having an appointment and then they're having a second appointment for the actual signing appointment that's maybe a few days later, a week later, to ensure that, one, nobody is in the background telling mom or dad or sibling to call and giving them a script, and then they don't know why they're there.

That's a way we can kind of catch things, is by delaying a signing. It's always a red flag for our office when people call and they need things same day.