Evaluation of the validity of a testament is one of the most difficult expert activities as it is not possible to examine clinically the deceased and because of inadequate or completely lacking medical documentation. The competence to write a testament is doubtful in the case of a serious mental disorder such as psychotic disease, obvious dementia or psychopathological symptoms associated with prolonged exhausting somatic disease with the development of pathologically enhanced suggestibility. The latter is demonstrated by the authors on the example of an elderly man who as a result of serious somatic affection succumbed to the intense psychic pressure of his attending assistant and bequeathed to her under the influence of her untruthful information his extensive property. The second case-record draws attention to the importance of psychiatric documentation. In the described case its non-existence made the court accept the validity of the testament written by the deceased who, beyond doubt, suffered from a psychotic disorder.

        Key words: legal competence to write a testament, pathologically enhanced suggestibility, dementia, exhausting somatic disease, importance of medical documentation.