%0 Journal Article %A James R. Merikangas %T Commentary: Contested Wills and Will Contests %D 2015 %J Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online %P 293-297 %V 43 %N 3 %X When disinherited heirs challenge a will drafted by a person suspected of having dementia, a legal battle may ensue. The “lucid interval,” a brief return to competence from a state of dementia, has been invoked in years past to establish the validity of contested wills. Shulman et al., having reviewed the medical and legal literature, make a convincing argument that no such period of competence occurs in the course of dementia. A neuropsychiatric autopsy is outlined in this commentary to provide a method of determining the validity of a last will and testament, by applying the clinical method described when witness statements do not provide accurate guidance. %U https://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/43/3/293.full.pdf