A Comprehensive Approach to Assessment of Testamentary Capacity

Amanda Kenepp; Ellen Johnson; Grace J Lee; Preeti Sunderaraman; Natalie L Denburg; Christopher M Nguyen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.789494

A Comprehensive Approach to Assessment of Testamentary Capacity

Front Psychol. 2021 Dec 23:12:789494. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.789494. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Amanda Kenepp^{1

2}, Ellen Johnson^{2

3}, Grace J Lee^{2

3}, Preeti Sunderaraman⁴, Natalie L Denburg⁵, Christopher M Nguyen²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Queens College and The Graduate Center (CUNY), New York, NY, United States.
² Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, United States.
³ Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United States.
⁴ Department of Neurology & The Framingham Heart Study - Brain Aging Program, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States.
⁵ Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa, IA, United States.

Abstract

The growing aging population raises important implications for legal and clinical systems, including testamentary capacity (TC) assessment. Yet, there are limited comprehensive and standardized assessment measures for TC readily available for clinical use. A review of current assessment methods and standardized approaches for TC assessment is provided. Although several guidelines regarding TC assessment have been proposed in prior literature, existing standardized approaches do not appear to meet full criteria for TC. A comprehensive approach to assessment of testamentary capacity is proposed.

Keywords: aging; financial decision-making; neuropsychological assessment; testamentary capacity; undue influence.

Publication types

Systematic Review