TY - JOUR T1 - Commentary: Contested Wills and Will Contests JF - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online JO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law SP - 293 LP - 297 VL - 43 IS - 3 AU - James R. Merikangas Y1 - 2015/09/01 UR - http://jaapl.org/content/43/3/293.abstract N2 - 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. ER -