Banks v Goodfellowor the Mental Capacity Act 2005?

The claim in James v James [2018] EWHC 43 (Ch) arose out of the will of the late Charles James (the testator), who died in 2012, leaving his substantial property portfolio to the defendants (his wife and two daughters) and nothing to his son (the claimant). The claimant, who had farmed the testator’s land in a farming partnership with the testator for a number of years claimed that he was entitled to land which had formed part of the estate under the doctrine of proprietary estoppel, which is analysed in Hugh Cumber’s article on page 1. In the alternative, he argued that the testator’s will was invalid as the testator, who had been prone to memory loss and confusion, had lacked the capacity to execute the will. This element of the proceedings gave rise to some interesting commentary on relationship between the common law test for capacity, and the statutory test for capacity under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005, a question which has exercised the courts since the MCA came into force in 2007.