PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - James R. Merikangas
TI  - Commentary: Contested Wills and Will Contests
DP  - 2015 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 293--297
VI  - 43
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/43/3/293.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/43/3/293.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2015 Sep 01; 43
AB  - 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.