diy living will - can we get him to sign it?

[Ladyemem]

my father in law is 85 and lives in a care home. He doesnt have a will.
He would like to leave everything to his son (my husband)
If we go through paperwork with him, can we get him to sign a diy living will.
We dont want to go via solicitors as they may say he is not capable of making these decisions. What should we do? My husband doesnt have any siblings. His sister died 5 years ago and has 2 children. If he dies intestate wont the granchildren be entitled to a share.

What GreatBallsof Fluff said.

I'm a will writer and when acting for an elderly person, and even more so one who's in a home, I spend a lot of time talking to them just on a social level first to get a handle on whether I feel they have capacity to make a will.

If there is the tiniest inkling that they are not 100% competent, I must talk to the testator's doctor and get a letter stating that in the Dr's view the testator is mentally competent before going ahead.

Often I don't even get to the stage of asking the Doctor. After even 10 minuts of chatting I can usually tell if they aren't competent, and I have the difficult task of explaining to them and their relatives that in my view, it has gone beyond the state of making a will, and that if necessary, they should be applying for deputyship (same as a Power of Attorney but after the person has lost capacity).

Any gift in a will witnessed by a beneficiary or potential beneficiary to that beneficiary is void.

Mumblechum, so is it the case that someone who has lost capacity to write their own will will either die intestate or die with the last will they wrote and it's too late for any changes? Even if someone has Power of Attorney or Deputyship they can't write a will for someone else can they?

But I reckon somebody with power of attorney will not be able to write a will that favours themselves only?

You're right, Quint. If Mumblechum says that a gift witnessed by a beneficiary is void, then you can be sure that a gift written by a beneficiary is void too.