Problems of Forensic Sciences 2005 Vol. 61 (LXI) 80-90
THE REMIT OF PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PSYCHIATRISTS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF AWARENESS AND FREEDOM OF DECLARATION OF WILL
Małgorzata KOWANETZ, Elżbieta SKUPIEŃ
Institute of Forensic Research, Krakow
Streszczenie
In recent years courts have increasingly frequently turned to experts for expert opinions in cases concerning annulment of a declaration of will. This relates both to deed of gift and other civil contracts. In the present article a case will be described where an expert psychiatrist observed no premises suggesting a disorder of awareness, but decided that it was advisable to assess the motivation for the decision and expression of will. Such assessment lies within the remit of a psychologist. In contrast to an assessment of freedom of declaration of will in testamentary cases, in these kinds of cases there is no possibility of conducting a psychological examination. At the same time the financial consequences of upholding or annulling a questioned agreement are crucial for the further lives of people who have signed it. Testamentary cases are very lengthy and courts often seek out successive medical experts, whose opinions do not provide a solution. From the authors’ experience it transpires that in such situations a complex (joint) psychological-psychiatric expert report is much more useful than separate expert reports, which are often not clear to the court, or even understood as conflicting.
Słowa kluczowe
Declaration of will; Annulment of agreement; Complex expert report.