The black’s law dictionary defines Insane delusions as unreasonable and incorrigible beliefs in

which the facts in existence are impossible or impossible under the circumstances of an
individual. Insane delusions do affect the testator’s capacity of making a will. This was
established in the case of dew v Clark 1826, the testator had refused to acknowledge his
daughter for the first three years of her life and made her sleep with an insane woman. The
daughter was able to prove insane delusions as the testator had an insane aversion of her and had
excluded her from the will. The court held that a person suffers from insane delusions when the
individual holds a belief in which no rational person could hold the same belief and the belief
cannot be eradicated from his mind. An insane delusion affects the testator’s capacity to make a
will in the way he disposes his property. This position was held in the case of vaghella v
vaghella 1999, where the judges held that for delusions to be held as material in the testamentary
capacity, there needs to be a connection between the will and the delusions. In Banks v Good
fellow (1870) the testator believed that evil spirits and a person who was already dead were
pursuing him. The court found that although the testator suffered from an insane delusion the
same did not affect his testamentary capacity as the delusion did not affect the way in which he
disposed of his property by will. The will was held to be valid. Sometimes the delusion may only
affect the validity of part of a will. In such a case, probate will be granted to such parts of the
will as are not affected by the delusion.

In re Estate of Kariuki Ngunyu (Deceased) [2019] eKLR the court stated that if the human
instincts and affections or the moral sense is perverted by a mental disease…if reason and
judgment are lost and the mind becomes a prey to insane delusions calculated to interfere with
and disturb its functions and to lead to a testamentary disposition due only to its baneful
influence, in such case it is obvious that the condition of testamentary power fails, and a will
made under such circumstances ought not to stand”. In this matter the deceased kariuki ngunyu
had died testate and the respondents had filed a petition for letters of administration with a
written will annexed to it. The respondent was granted the letters and the grant of probate of
written will was made to the respondent. The applicants filed a notice of objection on 15 th
January 2014 and they later filed summons for rectification or annulment of grants under section
58 & 76 of the laws of succession act. The first and second applicants disputed the will stating
that their step brother suffered from amnesia and was also illiterate and he lived in his father’s
land in which they were supposed to inherit. The applicants therefore disputed the will on the
ground of that the deceased was illiterate and mentally unstable and thus did not have capacity to
write a will; they deposed, he was so ill at the time the will is said to have been written and that
he was so ill that he couldn’t have written it even if he was literate and of sound mind. They also
disputed the will on the basis that the purported attesting witnesses were strangers to the
deceased’s family and it is possible that they were the respondent’s hirelings. On determining the
issues raised the court relied on section 5 of the law of succession act that talks about capacity
and the case of bank v good fellow. In that case the court addressed the effect of a testator’s
partial or complete mental illness on his capacity to make a will and acknowledged that, at the
very basic level, the disposition of one’s property by way of a will is generally influenced by
instincts, affections and common sentiments of mankind. It is essential to the exercise of such
powers that the testator understands, among other things, the nature and effects of his acts; the
extent of the property which he is disposing; the claims to which he ought to give effect and, to
this extent, no disorder of the mind shall poison his affections, pervert his sense of right, or
prevent the exercise of his natural faculties. The upshot is that no insane delusion should
influence his will on disposing of his property, and bring about a disposal of it which would not
have otherwise been made. though a mental disease may exist but it presents itself in such a
degree and form as not to interfere with the capacity to make a rational disposition of property,
the testator’s right to dispose of his property should not be taken away.

Therefore, from the case law discussed above, its crucial to understand the degree of delusions in
a testator. If a testator had delusions that affected his rationality in the way he disposed his
property as seen in Dew v Clark, then the delusions are held to have affected his testamentary
capacity. On the other hand, if the testator has delusions that did not affect his testamentary
capacity as seen in bank v good fellow, the will is then regarded as valid. As discussed in the
case re Estate of Kariuki Ngunyu the insane delusions should not influence the testator’s
disposal of properties in which he would have not done if he had no delusions.

In the issue herein, Timon believed that Qwality had poisoned his children on how they
perceived him and therefore he could not gift them anything. From the definition of insane
delusions unreasonable and incorrigible beliefs in which the facts in existence are impossible or
impossible under the circumstances of an individual. It’s clear that Timon held beliefs that were
unreasonable as he believed that the children were poisoned against him. In addition, its
established in the case of vaghella v vaghella that for insane delusions to suffice as to have
affected the testamentary capacity of the testator, there needs to be a connection between the
delusions and the will. In Timon’s will, there is a connection between the delusions and the will
as he left out Qwality and her children due to his belief that the Qwality had poisoned the
children against him. In the case of re Estate of Kariuki Ngunyu it was established that the
delusions should not influence the testator’s disposal of properties in which he would have not
done if he had no delusions. in the issue herein, if Timon was not deluded that Qwality had
poisoned the children’s mind, he would have left them a share of his property. Therefore, it’s
clear that Timon was suffering from mental delusions that had affected his testamentary capacity
of distributing his property.