The government has announced that it plans to take away the rights of people to wills of elderly relatives if they are found to have neglected them or submitted them to inhumane conditions in their twilight years.

The reasoning behind the proposal is satisfactory. It intends to incentivise people to look after their elderly parents or relatives and it also seeks some form of social justice. But this balancing act is fraught with so many dangers. First of all, what constitutes neglect? If a family lives on the other side of the world and has no idea that their relatives might have deteriorated, does that make them guilty of neglecting them?

What will happen when a family is accused of neglecting or mistreating someone, when there might have been one of them that did all they could to help the person through their last years? Who is going to establish who deserves and who does not deserve what is laid out to them in the will? What forms of investigation will take place, and who has the moral authority to decide who has done what for who?

There is no doubt that the elderly do deserve our respect, love and compassion and all should be done, especially by family members, to value and cherish our elders – after all, it is one defining trait of humanity.

But to arbitrarily cut a person’s access to an estate or what is laid out in a will is not the way to go. What if, for example, a father might have been cruel to a son or daughter and the bond was broken. What if that person repented and thought that the only way they could make up for what they have done is to bequeath what they have to their children?

And the burning question still remains. If a person of sound mind still wants to bequeath what they have to their children, who is the state to say otherwise? Leaving your property and belongings to other people in a will is a binding document which should supersede any other power that wants to do otherwise.

The problem of overcrowding in hospitals is partially due to the number of ‘social cases’ which see people taken to hospital and left there. What the government could consider, on the other hand, is making such forms of neglect punishable by law with hefty fines that would go into a special fund to help pay for the cost of residential care.

Whatever the case may be, removing a person’s right to access a will, no matter what they have done or not done to deserve it, should not be a decision that is made by the state or any of its organs.