Judge rules dead woman's €471,000 will valid

A JUDGE yesterday declared valid a will made by a woman with a slight cognitive impairment that will create a windfall of €471,000 for the woman’s US-based relatives.

At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Judge James O’Donohoe approved the will of late Clare native, Margaret Madden.

Ms Madden’s sister and co- executor of the will, Ellen Rolls, who is due to receive a one-third share of the €471,000, was refused proof of the will by the Probate Office due to concerns it had over Ms Madden’s mental capacity at the time of her will in 2002.

In court yesterday, Judge O’Donohoe said that while Ms Madden, then aged 75, had a mild cognitive impairment at the time of the making of the will in December 2002, he was satisfied that she had the mental agility to execute the will.

The court was told yesterday that an application was made to make Ms Madden a ward of court three months after she made the will and she entered Carrigoran nursing home, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, in March 2003 as she could no longer care for herself.

Ms Madden died last March at the home, aged 80. The court heard that prior to entering the home, Ms Madden had lived alone in Oranmore, Co Galway, and that she made the will to Oranmore solicitor Geraldine Costelloe in December 2002.

A co-executor of the will, Ms Costelloe said in evidence yesterday that Ms Madden “knew what her assets were and who she wanted to benefit”. Ms Costello said that the words did not roll off Ms Madden’s tongue at their meeting, but she was able to give her date of birth, that she never married and that she had no children.

In her will, Ms Madden bequeathed her estate to her sister Ellen, who is of advanced years and lives in Florida, and her niece Maura Rolls and nephew Albert Rolls, who both live in New York.

A native of the east Clare village of O’Callaghan’s Mills, Ms Madden also bequeathed €5,000 to the parish priest in Oranmore for Masses and €5,000 to her brother Willie, and that to go to his wife, Kitty, if he predeceased her.

Counsel Catherine Connolly, said that in terms of Ms Madden’s assets, the net value of her home was €471,000 and it has already been sold.

Ms Connolly referred Judge O’Donoghue to a number of medical reports yesterday.

In one report from Dr Martina Brennan of the Oran Medical Centre, she said Ms Madden was her patient between April 2002 and January 2003 and that she felt Ms Madden “had a mild cognitive impairment. This would have been unlikely to effect her ability to make a will”.

In a separate report, consultant geriatrician, Dr Eamon Mulkerrin said his impression on June 28th, 2002, was that Ms Madden had early Alzheimer’s disease.

He said Ms Madden had the capacity to make a will in June 2002, but almost certainly did not at the time of separate assessments in March and May 2003.