transferring property or writing new will while on narcotics

my father in law is 85 and is dying of cancer.  he is in the hospital and not doing well.  he's receiving dilaudid.  my husband's family hates his wife, who is almost 30 years younger than he is and feel she's only after his money.  they've been married for about 15 years.  after he had surgery several years ago, he changed his will and left everything to her---and he has a very sizeable estate of around $10 million.  before that, he had left properties and money to his family--children and grandchildren--- as well.

now that he's dying, my husband's family wants him to change his will.  he agreed to deed over one house to my husband, but i've been told that it would be better if he wrote a new will in longhand himself.

first, can he do any of this while he's on these strong narcotics?  i'm sure his wife would challenge a new will made now.  what's the best thing to do here?  should they wait and challenge the will he made several years ago?

This is not legal advice, just my common sense talking.

Let's face reality here. There's probably a ton of money and assets that he and his wife hold jointly that she'll get no matter what and Texas is a community property state so she already owns half of everything he's got.

In his present condition, if your husband's family convinces him to make a new will, there will be a 55 year old woman with millions of dollars who will contest the new will in a heartbeat and probably be able to throw a lot more money into it than your husband's family could.

And the family is delusional if they think there's any hope of challenging his old will that was made when he was younger and healthier.

My vote is for a quitclaim deed on the one property.

There's no reason why he can't sign a valid quitclaim deed when he's on strong drugs. His doctors and medical records can attest that he knows what he's doing. Better yet, have a lawyer that you pick out of the phone book at random handle the documents and signing and the lawyer can attest that he knows what he's doing.

It's a lot less likely that she'll challenge the deed to one property out of a 10 million dollar estate.

Another alternative is to just accept the fact that the old guy found himself some young boojum, enjoyed the heck out of her, and is leaving his estate to her. He's allowed to do that, you know. No matter whose sensibilities it offends.

that if he changes anything there will be a challenge after his death.

A spouse is a person's closest LEGAL relation.  The law protects them.

If they've been married 15 years and were in TX, community property laws also protect her.  She's probably going to get most of everything anyway.

The family needs to be careful about influencing the guy.  Undue influence can be a basis for tossing a will.

A will written in longhand is called a holographic will.  Not all states give effect to them.

mindy rogers:

should they wait and challenge the will he made several years ago?

There doesn't appear to be a basis.  Leaving everything to your wife of 15 years is common.  Changing your will after surgery (probably something serious) is also very common.

You can't just decide to challenge a will.  The normal bases are incompetency, duress or undue influence.  Hating his wife isn't a basis.