£1m will of Alzheimer's sufferer is ruled valid

A will drawn up by an Alzheimer's sufferer leaving the bulk of her £1million estate to a neighbour is valid, the Court of Appeal ruled today.

Ingeborg Krol, who had no close relatives, died in 2001 aged 89 and left all but £100,000 of her fortune to her neighbour of 40 years, Pauline Atherton.

Mrs Krol's godson, his sister and the daughter of a family friend have been fighting to have the 1994 will overturned in favour of an earlier version in 1987 under which they would have received the bulk of the estate.

They claimed that the will was invalid because it was drawn up at a time when Mrs Krol was suffering from dementia caused by Alzheimer's.

But today three appeal judges backed the finding of a High Court judge in February this year that a person suffering from a mild form of Alzheimer's could have the capacity to execute a valid will.

Lord Justice Peter Gibson said in a judgment today: "In 1987 Mrs Krol must be taken to have regarded the claimants as having the prior claims on her bounty.

"By 1994 the position had changed because of all that Mrs Atherton had been doing for Mrs Krol." Mrs Atherton and Mrs Krol, from Barnes, became close friends after the death of Mrs Krol's husband in 1985.

Francis Hoff, who lives in Germany, Maxine Beagan, who lives in France, and Gloria Wiechulla, also from Germany, had alleged Mrs Krol was too ill with Alzheimer's to know what she was doing when she prepared the document, which left Mr Hoff £50,000 and the two women £25,000 each.

The three now face legal fees expected to exceed the total they were given by Mrs Krol.