A man made a notarized will while hospitalized in a hospital and changed the beneficiaries from his former employer to his sister and her children.
The court ruled that the will was valid. The law states that every person is competent to make a will unless he has been deprived of his legal capacity or was unable to discern its nature at the time of making it. In the case of a will before a notary for a hospitalized/bedridden person, a current medical certificate from the date of the action is required. Here, the notarized will was indeed prepared while the deceased was hospitalized, but the notary met with him twice, and ensured that a specialist doctor examined him on the day the will was prepared and issued a medical certificate confirming his capacity. Therefore, the second will is the valid will and the sister is the heir.
